GOOD 
NEIGHBORS 

BY 

MARY   S.  HAVILAND 


UC-MRLF 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

G 


THE    WORKERS   OF   TODAY    BUILD    THE    CITY   OF    TOMORROW 


GOOD 
NEIGHBORS 

A  STUDY  IN  VOCATIONAL 
AND  COMMUNITY  HYGIENE 


BY 

MARY  S.  HAVILAND 

RESEARCH  SECRETARY  OF  THE 

NATIONAL  CHILD  WELFARE  ASSOCIATION,  INC. 

AUTHOH   OF    "THE   MOST    WONDERFUL   HOUSE    IN    THE    WORLD"    AND    "THE   PLAYHOUSE" 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA,  LONDON,  CHICAGO 
J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


_ 

c  >•  *  »v  **»''"•- 

i  ;. 
•     ..*.•«    •  •    •  •  . 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 


COPYRIGHT,    IQ22,    BY   J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 


PRINTED   BY  J.   B.    LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,   U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

INTO  our  factories  and  shops,  on  to  farms  and 
ranches,  into  business  houses,  offices  and  domestic  service, 
wherever  willing  hands  are  needed,  there  pours  every  year 
a  flood  of  young  life.  Every  year  a.  million  children 
between  ten  and  fifteen  years  old  leave  school  to  go 
to  work. 

Every  year,  too,  sees  the  advent  of  two  million  young 
voters,  youths  and  maidens  who  have  attained  their  cov- 
eted majority  and  who  are  legally,  if  in  no  other  respect, 
ready  for  the  vote. 

How  well  are  these  young  workers  and  citizens  per- 
pared  for  their  tasks  of  labor  and  of  democracy? 

Four  million  American  school  children  are  hajidicap- 
ped  by  mouth  breathing,  caused  by  tonsils  and  adenoids. 
Five  million  have  trouble  with  their  eyes.  Eight  out  of 
every  ten  have  seriously  defective  teeth.  One  million  have 
something  wrong  with  their  ears.  Two  million  have  flat 
feet  or  crooked  spines.  One  in  every  three  is  under- 
weight, undernourished,  or  malnourished. 

How  can  these  children  do  good  work  with  such  poor 
bodily  tools? 

As  to  preparation  for  citizenship, — for  real  community 
service, — how  many  of  our  young  folks  are  given  any 
actual  training  at  all? 

And  yet  the  success  of  any  civilization  must  rest  upon 
the  health  of  its  workers  as  individuals  and  as  commun- 
ity members. 

s 

519021 


4  PREFACE 

This  little  book  is  an  attempt  to  make  the  future 
worker  and  citizen  realize  that  only  as  he  forms  and  keeps 
health  habits,  can  he  be  happy  and  successful,  and  that 
only  as  he  and  his  fellows  contribute  to  the  health  of 
their  communities  can  American  democracy  realize 
its  ideals. 

Many  friends  have  aided  in  the  preparation  of  this 
book.  Especial  thanks  are  due,  to  Dr.  W.  F.  Russell, 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Education  of  the  University  of 
Iowa.  To  Miss  Emma  Dolfinger,  of  the  Normal  School 
of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  I  am  indebted  for  the  valuable 
suggestions  at  the  end  of  each  chapter. 

MARY  S.  HAVILAND 


PART  I 
THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     THE  WORKER  AND  His  TOOLS 11 

II.     STAND  UP  FOR  YOURSELF 14 

III.  WATCH  YOUR  STEP    23 

IV.  THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION , 32 

V.     FOOD 42 

VI.     THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT 54 

VII.     CARE  OF  THE  SKIN 64 

VIII.     CARE  OF  THE  HAIR 73 

IX.     How  WE  BREATHE 81 

X.     THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE 88 

XI.     BRAIN  AND  NERVES 96 

XII.     NERVES  AND  FATIGUE 103 

XIII.  THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE Ill 

XIV.  CARE  OF  THE  EARS 120 

XV.     COLDS — How  TO  CATCH  AND  How  TO  AVOID  THEM 127 

XVI.     CLOTHING 136 

XVII.     "  CATCHING  "  DISEASES 143 

XVIII.     ALCOHOL  AND  TOBACCO 151 

XIX.     TAKING  CHANCES  AND  TAKING  CONSEQUENCES 157 

XX.     THE  CARE  OF  THE  BABY 165 

XXI.  THE  OWNER  OF  THE  TOOL  CHEST.  .                                                  .  173 


Copyright,  1891,  by  M.  P.  Rice 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
WORKER  AND  CITIZEN 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

THE  WORKER  AND  HIS  TOOLS 

THE  other  day,  when  I  had  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  dentist, 
I  amused  myself  by  admiring  his  tools.  So  many  of 
them,  and  yet  he  always  knew  just  which  one  to  use.  And 
they  were  all  so  shining  and  free  from  any  speck  of  dirt 
or  rust.  I  remarked  to  the  dentist  how  well  he  seemed 
to  be  acquainted  with  his  instruments  and  how  polished 
he  kept  them.  He  smiled  and  said,  "A  good  workman 
is  known  by  his  tools  and  he  also  knows  his  tools.  You 
can't  do  good  work  with  poor  tools,  nor  can  you  work 
well  with  tools  of  which  you  know  nothing. ' ' 

As  I  walked  home,  I  thought  how  little  most  of  us 
know  about  those  wonderful  tool-chests,  our  bodies,  or 
of  how  to  keep  our  tools  clean,  sharp  and  ready  for  use. 

During  the  war,  I  knew,  as  I  suppose  everyone  did, 
a  great  many  disappointed  young  men  who  were  rejected 
as  unfit  for  service.  Tom  had  weak  lungs.  Will  had 
flat  feet,  Henry's  eyes  troubled  him.  Sam's  spine  was 
a  trifle  crooked.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  young 
men  all  over  America  went  sadly  home  from  the  recruit- 
ing office,  because  of  some  bodily  defect. 

Many  of  these  troubles  were  cured  and  later  the  young 
men  entered  the  service,  but  in  many  cases,  the  trouble 
should  have  been  prevented  or  cured  in  boyhood  and  now 
it  was  too  late.  Many  and  many  a  brave  young  man 

thought  bitterly,  "Why  was  I  not  shown,  ten  years  ago, 

11 


!£  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

how  to  take  care  of  my  body?  Then  I  could  have  been 
of  some  use  now,  instead  of  being  pushed  aside/' 

Of  course  we  all  hope  that  we  shall  never  have  another 
war,  but  whether  we  do  or  not,  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war, 
America  needs  strong,  healthy,  happy  worth  while  men 
and  women.  Soldiers  are  carefully  examined  before 
they  enlist,  their  weaknesses  and  defects  are  treated,  they 
are  taught  how  to  keep  well  and  then  trained  to  hard 
work,  cool  nerves  and  endurance.  Just  so,  you  girls  and 
boys  who  are  soon  going  to  enter  the  battle  of  life,  must 
make  yourselves  "fit  to  fight"  by  discovering  and  curing 
any  weakness,  making  your  bodies  like  clean,  sharp, 
ready  tools,  and  learning  how  to  keep  them  so. 

I  suppose  most  children,  when  they  are  little,  think 
very  little  about  their  bodies.  I  know  that,  when  I  was 
small,  I  gave  no  thought  to  my  body  at  all  unless  I  fell 
and  bruised  my  knee,  or  ate  too  much  and  had  a  stomach- 
ache, or  in  some  other  way  mistreated  my  body  so  that  it 
cried  out  and  forced  itself  on  my  attention.  But  when  I 
grew  older,  I  began  to  think  of  my  self  as  living  in  my 
body,  and  I  realized  that  if  I  took  no  care  of  this  house  in 
which  I  lived,  I  could  not  play  and  enjoy  myself.  And 
when  I  was  older  still,  and  began  to  think  of  earning  my 
own  living,  I  saw  clearly  that  my  body  was  not  merely  a 
pleasure-house  in  which  to  enjoy  myself,  but  that  it  was 
also  a  chest  of  tools  with  which  I  must  earn  my  living.  I 
saw  that  all  my  happiness  and  usefulness  in  life,  my 
success  and  worth-whileness,  would  largely  depend  on 
knowing  how  to  use  my  body  and  how  to  keep  it  strong 
and  fit  for  service. 

Earning  one 's  living  may  be  the  most  tiresome  drud- 


THE  WORKER  AND  HIS  TOOLS  13 

gery  and  it  may  be  a  source  of  never-ending  interest  and 
pleasure.  Whether  it  is  one  or  the  other  depends  some- 
what on  the  work,  but  largely  on  the  health  of  the  worker. 
Therefore  I  wish  there  were  a  law  that  everyone  of  you 
boys  and  girls  should  not  only  have  finished  a  certain 
grade  in  school  before  you  go  to  work,  but  also  that  you 
should,  like  soldiers,  be  of  a  certain  weight  and  in  good 
health.  And  I  wish,  too,  that  you  could  all  be  taught 
and  trained  in  health  habits.  You  would  do  more  work, 
better  work,  earn  higher  wages  and  have  more  fun  while 
earning  them.  You  would  feel,  as  you  ought,  that  work 
is  really  far  more  interesting  than  play.  If  every  boy 
and  girl  felt  this,  what  a  busy,  happy  nation  of  workers 
we  should  be! 

THE  WORKER  AND  HIS  TOOLS 

Think  about  what  you  would  most  like  to  do  or  be,  when  you  are  old 
enough  to  leave  school.  How  will  a  strong  body  help  you  succeed  in 
reaching  your  ideal  ? 

How  will  such  a  body  add  to  your  joy  in  life,  as  well  as  to 
your  usefulness? 


STAND  UP  FOE  YOUKSELF 

ONE  of  the  very  first  things  that  a  workman  needs  is 
tools  that  are  not  bent  or  twisted  and  apparatus  that  is 
straight  and  stands  steadily.  A  carpenter  who  has  only 
crooked  nails,  and  who  works  on  an  uneven,  unsteady  table 
cannot  turn  out  good  work. 

I  suppose  you  have  often  seen  a  carpenter's  rule,  his 
T  square  and  the  spirit  level  with  which  he  makes  sure 
that  his  work  is  perfectly  even  and  stands  solidly  and 
well  balanced.  But  I  wonder  whether  you  have  ever 
thought  how  wonderfully  balanced  your  own  body  is. 

Most  things  in  this  world  are  made  so  that  they 
stand  firm  and  solid.  The  roots  of  most  trees  spread  far 
and  wide  under  the  ground,  much  farther  than  their 
branches.  The  lower  animals  and  insects  stand  on  four 
or  more  legs,  with  no  fear  of  losing  their  balance.  The 
things  that  man  makes  are  built  either  with  a  solid  base 
deeply  rooted,  like  our  "  sky-scrapers, "  or  with  good, 
substantial  legs,  like  our  chairs  and  tables.  We  never 
build  things  "topheavy"  and  delicately  balanced  on  a 
small  base,  for  we  know  from  experience  how  easily  such 
things  are  overturned. 

But  now  look  at  your  own  body.  It  is  much  larger 
around  the  shoulders  and  hips  than  around  your  feet.  You 
are  somewhat  the  shape  of  a  ninepin,  ready  to  be  knocked 
over  by  the  first  light  tap !  We  have  grown  so  used  to 
balancing  ourselves  that  we  do  it  without  thinking.  We 
have  forgotten  the  days  of  our  babyhood  when  we  stood 

14 


STAND  UP  FOR  YOURSELF 


15 


with  legs  far  apart,  so  as  to  have  a  wider  base,  threw  out 
our  arms  and  balanced  ourselves  with  almost  as  much 


skull  (cranium) 


facial  artery 
carotid  artery 


heart  outline 
brachial  artery 


radial  artery 


upper  Jaw 
(maxilla) 

lower  jaw 
(mandible) 

collar  bone 
(clavicle) 

breast  bone 
(sternum) 


arm  bone 
(humerus) 

ribs 


spine  (vertebra) 

hip  bone 
(ilium) 

forearm  bones 
(radius  and 
ulna) 


thigh  bone 
(Femur) 


knee  cap 
(patella) 


leg  bones  (tibia 
and  fibula) 


Skeleton  with  blood  vessel  system. 


16 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


care  as  we  should  need  now  in  walking  a  narrow  plank 
over  a  chasm.  We  balance  ourselves  with  perfect  ease 
and  walk  without  giving  our  feet  a  thought.  But  we  do 
so  only  so  long  as  our  bodies  and  brains  are  both  strong 
and  healthy. 

After  a  long  illness,  the  invalid  often 
has  to  learn  to  walk  all  over  again,  for 
he  has  lost  the  habit  and 
his  muscles  are  weak,  like 
a   baby's.     Often,    too,    a 
weak  brain  will  make  walk- 
ing difficult.  A  brain  that  is  muddled  with 
alcohol  will  not  guide  the  muscles  and 
the  drunkard  cannot  walk,  but  staggers 
and  falls.     The  same  thing  happens  to 
idiots.     I   know   a   poor   fellow   whose 
brain  has  never  developed  and  he  has 
to  be  wheeled  about  the  streets  as  if 
he  were  a  baby. 

So,  as  I  said,  it  needs  not  only  a 
strong  body,  but  a  well-developed,  clear 
brain  to  make  a  man  hold  himself  up-, 
right.  The  minute  the  muscles  give 
way,  or  the  brain  loses  control,  the  body  sinks  to  the 
ground.  Even  when  ,the  muscles  or  brain  are  a  little 
tired,  the  body  tends  to  sag  and  " cave  in." 

The  reason  of  this  sagging  is  that  the  body  is  not 
"all  in  one  piece,"  like  a  ninepin,  but  is  built  in  sections, 
as  it  were.  The  backbone  is  made  of  twenty-four  small 
bones,  or  vertebra.  The  legs  are  divided  by  joints  at  the 
hips,  the  knees  and  the  ankles,  and  the  muscles  attached  to 


STAND  UP  FOR  YOURSELF 


17 


these  joints  help  to  hold  the  different  parts  of  the  body 
in  position. 

Now,  when  we  stand  in  an  erect  position,  as  you  can 
see  from  the  picture,  all  the  various  parts  of  the  body 
are  evenly  and  solidly  balanced  one  over  the  other,  like 
a  well-built  tower,  and  we  can  stand  so  a  long  time, 
without  tiring.  But  if  we 
stand  with  the  head  forward, 
the  chest  caving  in  and  the 
stomach — or  abdomen,  to  use 
its  correct  name — thrown 
out,  the  body  is  like  a  pile  of 
blocks  laid  "  every  which 
way"  and  ready  to  fall  down 
any  moment. 

An  erect  posture,  when 
you  have  once  gotten  into 
the  habit,  is  really  much  less 
tiring  than  a  "slumping" 
one.  Moreover,  it  allows  all 
your  organs  to  do  their  work  properly.  And  last, 
but  perhaps  not  least,  it  gives  you  a  sense  of  self- 
respect  and  makes  other  people  respect  you  more. 
A  boy  who  goes  about  with  his  head  hanging,  his 
shoulders  humped  and  his  feet  dragging,  may  be  a 
live,  energetic,  worth  while  fellow,  but  he  will  have  to 
prove  it.  But  what  business  man  would  not  be  glad  to 
employ  such  a  fellow  as  the  "Concord  Minute  Man?" 
His  head  is  up,  his  chest  is  up,  he  stands  strong  and 
sturdy,  ready  for  anything. 

Now,  how  shall  we  go  about  correcting  the  habit  of 


18 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


wrong  posture?  I  remember  reading  of  a  man  who 
formed  good  posture  habits  by  imagining  that  when  he 
walked,  a  cord  was  fastened  to  the  top  button  of  his  vest 
and  was  pulling  him  forward.  I've  tried  it  myself  and 
it  really  is  a  wonderful  help  in  walking  well. 

In  standing,  remember  to  hold  the  chest  up — not  stiff- 
ly like  a  pouter-pigeon — but  just  naturally  and  comfort- 


ably. Then  sway  forward  until  you  can  rise  on  your 
toes.  Lower  your  heels  and  let  the  weight  of  the  body 
continue  to  rest  on  the  balls  of  the  feet.  This  will  give 
you  a  natural,  easy  position,  with  the  parts  of  the  body 
one  over  the  other,  not  broken  up  into  wobbly  joints, 
such  as  I  compared  to  a  pile  of  tottering  blocks. 

I  suppose  a  good  many  of  you  will  work  at  something 
that  may  require  you  to  sit  during  a  large  part  of  the 
day,  so  that  it  is  very  important  that  you  should  sit  in 
the,  easiest  and  best  position.  Now  the  thing  that  is  easiest 
and  best  means  the  thing  that  is  most  natural  and  causes 


STAND  UP  FOR  YOURSELF 


19 


least  strain.     If  you  sit  with  your  shoulder  blades  and 
the  end  of  your  back  resting  against  the  chair-back,  like 


BRACE  UP! 


What  Is 
\bur 

POSITION 
In 

Life 


UGHT  POSTURE 

Aids 

Health     Appearance 
Success  Self-Respect 

this,  and  your  feet  flat  on  the  floor,  or  on  a  foot  rest 
like  this,  you  will  have  a  sense  of  solidity  and  strength. 


20  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

because  the  parts  of  your  body  are  resting,  one  over  the 
other,  as  they  were  meant  to.  But  if  you  sit,  as  so  many 
people  do,  with  your  shoulders  drooping  forward,  and 
the  end  of  your  spine  sliding  forward,  your  whole  body 
will  be  cramped,  you  cannot  take  a  deep  breath,  and  you 
will  get  far  more  tired.  Just  try  sitting  in  this  attitude  and 


try  to  take  a  good,  deep  breath.  It  is  almost  impossible. 

Of  course,  when  you  are  employed,  you  cannot  always 
have  a  chair  of  exactly  the  right  height  and  shape.  But 
" where  there's  a  will,  there's  a  way."  I  know  a  girl 
who,  if  her  chair  is  too  high,  puts  a  box  under  her  feet 
and  if  it  is  too  low  for  her  arms  to  rest  comfortably  on 
her  work-table,  she  puts  a  cushion  or  pile  of  newspapers 
on  the  seat,  to  raise  her.  The  girls  who  work  in  her 
room  used  to  call  her  ' '  Miss  Fussy, ' '  but  they  have  begun 
to  see  that  she  can  work  longer  and  faster  than  they 
without  growing  so  tired  and  they  are  following 
her  example. 

Another  thing  to  remember  is  to  lean  forward  not 
by  humping  the  shoulders  and  bending  the  back,  but  by 


STAND  UP  FOR  YOURSELF  21 

swaying  forward  from  the  hips;  that  is  what  your  hip- 
joints  are  for,  so  that  you  may  bend  forward  easily  and 
comfortably.  Try  both  ways  and  see  how  much  more 
comfortable  the  hip-bend  is. 

One  of  the  things  that  helps  most  in  getting  the  habit 
of  good  position  is  to  think  right.  If  you  start  off  to 
your  day's  work  thinking,  "  Oh,  dear,  I  shall  never  amount 
to  much.  I  have  no  'pull'  and  I'll  never  be  advanced. 
My  work  is  so  stupid  and  I  do  so  hate  it!"  If,  I  say, 
you  start  out  like  this,  your  head  will  droop,  your  chest 
will  cave  in,  your  feet  will  drag  and  you  will  not  only  feel, 
but  look  like  a  failure.  Your  bad  posture  will  injure 
your  health  and  the  chances  are  ten  to  one  that  you  will 
be  a  failure. 

But  if  you  set  forth  thinking,  "I'm  going  to  see  how 
much  I  can  do  today  and  how  well  I  can  do  it  and  how 
much  fun  I  can  get  out  of  doing  it, ' '  your  head  will  come 
up,  your  chest  will  rise  of  its  own  accord,  you  will  walk 
along  easily  and  lightly.  You  will  feel  and  look  happy 
and  successful  and  your  good  position  and  bright  thoughts 
will  help  you  to  keep  well,  and  keeping  well  is  one  of 
the  first  steps  to  success. 

No  one  likes  a  grouchy,  slouchy,  caved-in  sort  of  per- 
son. Stand  up  for  yourself ! 

STAND  UP  FOR  YOURSELF 

Can  you  keep  your  balance  while  riding  in  a  street  car,  without  using 
the  straps?  Explain  to  your  satisfaction,  how  you  do  it. 

Can  you  explain  why  you  cannot  knock  over  the  baby's  "tumble- toy"  ? 

How  do  you  save  yourself  from  falling  when  you  slip  on  the  ice?  Why 
are  you  able  to  do  this? 

(You  may  not  be  able  to  answer  all  these  questions,  but  by  trying  you 
will  find  out  some  interesting  things  about  keeping  your  balance.) 

I 


22  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

List  all  the  advantages  you  can,  of  a  body  framework  composed  as 
ours  is,  of  separate,  moveable  pieces  of  bone.  Disadvantages.  How  can 
we  overcome  the  latter? 

Learn  from  your  physical  training  teacher,  the  correct  standing  posture. 
Is  your' s  good?  Make  a  resolution  to  keep  correct  posture.  Can  you  do 
this  for  a  whole  day?  A  week?  Get  some  one  to  judge  you,  and  keep  a 
score  on  yourself  to  help  you  remember. 

Find  out  what  kind  of  seat  favors  good  sitting  posture.  Always 
change  any  seat  you  may  have  to  occupy  for  a  long  time  to  fit  this 
knowledge,  as  far  as  you  are  able  to.  Find  out  how  to  sit  correctly  and 
comfortably.  Act  on  your  knowledge.  Are  you  sitting  correctly  this 
minute?  If  not,  how  can  you  correct  your  posture? 

What  experience  have  you  had,  or  observed  in  others,  that  proves  this 
point: — "Good  posture  always  goes  with  a  happy,  joyous  feeling  of  activity." 

What  experience  have  you  had  that  proves  this  statement: — "We 
have  faith  in  those  people  who  stand  straight,  with  heads  held  high — 
and  an  air  of  self-confidence?" 


WATCH  YOUR  STEP 

WHEN  I  was  shopping  yesterday,  I  heard  one  of  the 
saleswomen  say  to  another,  "My  goodness,  how  my  feet 
do  ache!  I  can't  think  what  ails  them."  Just  then  she 
stepped  out  into  the  aisle  and  as  she  walked,  or  rather, 
hobbled  away,  I  thought  to  myself  that  I  could  make  a 
guess  at  several  things  that  were  wrong  with  her  feet. 

She  was  wearing  a  pair  of  laced  shoes  that  were 
drawn  so  tight  around  her  ankle  that  the  flesh  bulged  out- 
above  the  shoetop.  Her  heels  were  "French,"  and  badly 
worn  on  one  side,  so  that  her  weight  fell  on  the  inside  of 
her  foot  and  the  ankle  bones  jutted  out  and  almost  struck 
each  other  when  she  walked.  As  she  came  walking  back, 
I  saw  that  the  shoes  were  of  patent  leather,  with  very 
narrow,  fancy  tips.  I  did  not  say  anything  to  her,  for 
I  was  afraid  she  would  think  I  was  interfering,  but  it 
did  seem  a  shame  for  any  girl  to  try  to  stand  and 
work  on  such  a  pair  of  feet. 

I  suppose  most  of  us  value  our  feet  very  highly.  At 
least,  when  we  pass  a  crippled  soldier,  we  say,  "Oh,  how 
terrible  to  lose  one's  foot!"  And  yet  most  of  us  really 
abuse  our  feet  shamefully — quite  as  if  we  thought  we 
could  buy  a  new  pair  whenever  we  wanted  them. 

There  are  three  different  ways  in  which  a  great  many 
people  abuse  their  feet — by  standing  and  walking  incor- 
rectly, by  clothing  the  feet  wrongly  and — shocking  as  it 
sounds — by  not  keeping  them  perfectly  clean. 

To  begin  with  the  first  mistake,  that  of  standing  and 
walking  incorrectly.  It  is  important  to  understand  the 

23 


24  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

general  plan  on  which  our  feet  are  built.  If  you  examine 
your  foot  and  your  hand,  you  will  see  that  they  are  really 
a  good  deal  alike,  except  that  your  fingers  are  much  longer 
than  your  toes,  and  that  you  can  move  and  control  them 
much  more  easily.  As  the  picture  shows,  the  bones  of 
the  foot  form  a  slight  arch,  from  the  heel  to  the  ball  of 
the  foot,  and  if  you  look  at  your 
hand,  you  will  see  that  the  bones  of 
the  hand  arch  slightly  in  the  same 
way,  from  the  wrist  to  the  knuckles. 
The  picture  does  not  show  it  so 
clearly,  but  in  addition  to  the  arch 
which  runs  from  end  to  end  of  the 
foot,  there  is  another  arch,  across 
the  foot  just  where  the  toes 
begin.  You  can  plainly  see  this  arch  in  your  palm,  under 
the  knuckles. 

Now  what  are  these  arches  for!  In  the  first  place, 
they  act  as  springs,  to  keep  the  body  from  unpleasant 
and  dangerous  jars.  The  arches  are  held  together  by 
strips  of  strong  connecting  tissue  called  tendons,  just- 
as  the  string  of  a  bow  stretched  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
holds  the  bow  in  its  arched  shape.  These  arches  put  a 
comfortable  air  cushion  under  your  foot,  so  that  when 
you  walk,  you  don't  come  down  with  a  thud,  but  walk  eas- 
ily and  with  a  spring.  Beside  this,  there  are  nerves  and 
blood  vessels  under  our  insteps  which  would  be  hurt  if 
they  had  to  bear  the  weight  of  our  bodies. 

When  I  was  little,  I  was  always  urged  to  turn  out 
my  toes,  for  in  those  days,  it  was  considered  more  ele- 
gant, and  nobody  seemed  to  know  that  it  was  bad  for 


WATCH  YOUR  STEP  25 

your  feet.  If  you  will  try  standing  with  your  feet  well 
turned  out,  you  will  see  that  it  throws  the  weight  of  your 
body  on  the  inside  of  your  foot,  tends  to  make  your  knees 
knock  together  and  makes  your  ankle  bones  stick  out  on 
the  inner  side  of  your  ankle.  If  you  think  a  moment, 
you  will  realize  that  this  throwing  of  all  the  body's.weight 
one  one  side  of  the  arch 
must  strain  the  tendon 
that  holds  it  up  and  tend  to 
flatten  or  break  down  the 
arch.  And  if  you  compare 
the  print  of  a  natural  foot 
with  that  of  a  "flat  foot, 
you  will  see  that  in  the  lat- 
ter the  arch  is  flattened  out 
and  the  foot  is  flat  on  the  ground.  With  such  a  foot, 
it  is  hard  to  walk  or  stand  long  and  the  whole  body 
tends  to  be  thrown  out  of  balance.  Any  one  who 
has  broken  down  or  weak  arches  should  avoid  that  which 
will  keep  him  on  his  feet  much. 

People  with  broken  arches  often  wear  stiff  arch  sup- 
porters in  their  shoes,  but  this  is  like  depending  on 
crutches  instead  of  developing  strong  muscles.  If  your 
ankles  are  weak,  and  long  standing  or  walking  makes 
your  feet,  ankles  and  even  legs  pain  you,  you  need  some 
exercise  to  strengthen  the  foot  muscles.  Captain  J.  R. 
Harris,  a  physician  in  the  United  States  Medical  Corps 
advises  the  following  exercises,  to  be  taken  barefoot. 

1.  Rise  on  toes  as  high  as  possible,  then  slowly  lower 
heels  to  ground. 


26  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

2.  Standing  on  heels,  raise  toes  as  far  as  possible. 
Then  relax. 

3.  Raise  body  by  grasping  at  the  floor  with  toes.     Try 
not  to  use  the  leg  muscles,  but  grip  strongly  with  toes. 

4.  Cross  right  foot  in  front  of  left  and  sway  your 
weight  from  left  to  right  by  actively  pushing  with  your 
toes.     Reverse  your  feet  and  repeat. 

5.  Stand  with  the  top  of  your  left  foot  in  the  hollow 

of  your  right  knee  and  swing 
about,  balancing  on  your  right 
foot.  Change  and  balance  on 
left  foot. 

Each  of  these  exercises  should 
be  repeated  for  several  minutes 
as  many  times  a  day  as  you  have 
time.  At  morning  and  at  night 
they  can  be  done  barefoot,  but 
even  with  the  shoes  on,  they  are  of  value  in  strengthening 
the  foot  and  ankle.  Just  compare  your  helpless  toes  with 
those  of  a  baby.  His  are  almost  like  fingers,  and  so 
should  ours  be,  if  we  gave  the  poor  things  a  chance  to 
exercise.  When  I  wake  in  the  morning,  I  always,  before 
getting  out  of  bed,  exercise  my  toes  a  bit,  trying  to  grasp 
the  sheet  with  them,  seeing  how  far  apart  I  can  stretch 
them  and  how  far  back  and  up  I  can  bend  them.  It  is 
really  very  good  fun  and  it  limbers  one  up  for  the  day. 

Of  course,  the  great  trouble  is  that  we  coop  our  feet 
up  in  stiff,  badly  shaped  shoes  for  fourteen  to  sixteen 
hours  a  day.  No  wonder  that  the  poor  things  grow 
misshapen  and  ugly  and  weak,  instead  of  being  strong 


WATCH  YOUR  STEP  27 

and  swift  like  the  animals '  feet,  or  beautiful  and  flexible 
like  the  baby's. 

The  American  Posture  League,  an  organization  of 
people  especially  interested  in  teaching  everyone  how  to 
stand  and  walk  well,  has  measured  thousands  of  feet 
and  as  a  result,  they  found  that  there  were  three  differ- 


IN  FLARED 


OUTFLARED 


ent  types  of  feet.  They  call  these  feet  ' '  inflared, ' '  ' '  out- 
flared  "  or  ' '  straight ' '  according  to  whether,  when  a  line  is 
drawn  straight  through  the  back  of  the  heel,  the  greater 
width  of  the  sole  falls  inside  this  line,  outside,  or  whether 
the  width  is  evenly  divided. 

And  yet,  most  people  buy  shoes  to  suit  their  eyes, 
rather  than  to  fit  their  feet.  If  pointed  toes  are  in  fash- 
ion, we  wear  pointed  toes.  If  French  heels  are  the  style, 
we  perch  our  feet  up  in  an  unnatural  position  on  French 


28  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

heels.  It  seems  rather  silly  and  tiresome  for  everyone 
to  dress  alike,  but  when  you  think  of  all  the  poor  feet  of 
different  shapes  crowded  into  one  shape  of  shoe,  it  seems 
not  only  stupid,  but  wrong,  for  it  makes  free  play  impos- 
sible and  work  very  difficult.  When  I  see  a  shop  girl 
hobbling  about  her  tasks,  I  remember  someone's  remark 
that  "If  your  mind  is  on  your  feet,  it 
can't  be  on  your  work." 

Of  course,  the  ideal  thing  would  be 
to  go  like  savages,  without  any  shoes. 
I  never  heard  of  a  savage  who  had 
corns  or  bunions  or  weak  arches.  But 
city  streets  contain  glass,  nails  and  other 
things  that  may  cut  or  injure  our  feet. 
The  pavements  in  summer  are  burning 
hot  and  in  winter  we  should  be  too  cold. 
Some  sort  of  foot  covering  we  must  have  to  protect  the 
feet  from  injury  and  to  keep  out  the  cold  and  wet. 

How  shall  we  choose  our  shoes?  Of  course,  I  under- 
stand that  no  one  wants  to  look  "queer"  and  different 
from  everyone  else.  I  am  not  going  to  advise  you  to 
wear  Indian  moccasins  on  Broadway.  I  know,  too,  that 
the  question  of  expense  is  a  serious  one,  for  most  of  us 
cannot  afford  to  buy  extremely  high-priced  shoes.  But 
a  shoe  is  not  "cheap"  if  it  ruins  your  feet  and  prevents 
your  working. 

By  tracing  an  outline  of  your  bare  foot  as  you  stand 
on  a  piece  of  paper,  you  can  find  just  how  long  and  wide 
the  sole  of  your  shoe  should  be.  To  squeeze  your  foot 
into  a  shoe  whose  sole  is  too  narrow  is  as  silly  as  the 
Chinese  custom  of  shortening  the  foot  by  binding  it.  The 


WATCH  YOUR  STEP  29 

Chinese  are  beginning  to  see  how  foolish  their  custom  is, 
and  let's  hope  that  we  shall  soon  be  more  sensible,  too. 

The  second  thing  to  remember  is  that  the  heel  should 
be  low,  and  broad  enough  to  support  the  foot  steadily, 
so  that  the  ankle  will  not  turn  and  the  body  be  thrown  out 
of  balance.  Kubber  heels  prevent  the  body  from  being 
jarred  at  each  step. 

Thirdly,  the  toe  should  be  wide  enough  to  let  the  toes 
move  about  freely. 

Fourthly,  the  inner  side  of  the  shoe  should  be  so 
shaped  that  the  toes  can  point  straight  ahead.  You  will 
see  in  the  picture  how  a  wrongly  shaped  shoe  bends  the 
big  toe  out  of  line  and  causes  a  swollen,  ugly  joint. 

Lastly,  the  shoe  should  be  soft  and  easily  bent,  both 
upper  and  sole,  so  as  not  to  cramp  the  movements  of  the 
foot,  and  it  should  be  of  porous  leather — that  is  leather 
in  which  the  natural,  tiny  holes  remain,  so  that  the  air 
is  not  entirely  shut  out.  Patent  leather  is  not  porous  and 
makes  the  feet  hot  and  uncomfortable.  A  great  many 
people  find  the  same  trouble  with  box  calf. 

But  even  if  you  walk  and  stand  correctly  and  wear 
well-fitting,  sensible  shoes,  your  feet  may  trouble  you  a 
good  deal  if  you  do  not  give  them  proper  care.  The  feet 
are  shut  up  all  day  in  a  close-fitting  prison.  At  night, 
when  you  get  home,  change  to  a  pair  of  house  slippers. 

I  used  to  know  a  boy  who  was  so  distressed  with  ach- 
ing, swollen,  tired  feet  that  he  thought  he  would  have  to 
give  up  his  work  as  an  elevator  boy  and  find  something 
that  would  enable  him  to  sit  down.  He  asked  a  friend 
who  was  a  trained  nurse  what  he  should  do  about  it  and 
she  said,  "Well,  if  you  will  promise  not  to  be  offended, 


30  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

my  opinion  is  that  your  feet  need  not  less  standing,  but 
more  bathing." 

This  boy  had  always  thought  he  was  clean,  for  he  took 
two  or  three  baths  a  week  and  changed  his  clothes  twice 
a  week.  But  after  this,  he  formed  the  habit  of  bathing 
his  feet,  or  soaking  them  a  few  minutes  in  hot  water  every 
night  before  he  went  to  bed.  In  the  morning,  he  washed 
them  in  cold  water  and  put  on  clean  socks.  A  pair  of 
clean  socks  every  day  seems  a  good  many  perhaps,  but 
he  told  me  that  he  simply  rinsed  out  his  socks  each  night 
and  they  dried  by  morning.  This  not  only  kept  his  feet 
much  more  comfortable,  but  the  socks  lasted  longer. 
Every  night  he  was  careful  to  air  the  inside  of  his  shoes, 
loosening  the  laces  and  pulling  out  the  tongues  so  the 
air  could  get  to  them.  He  was  also  careful  about  get- 
ing  his  feet  wet  and  about  wearing  rubbers  in  the  house. 
He  had  not  tried  this  for  a  week  before  he  realized  that  the 
nurse  was  right — his  feet  had  pained  him  because  they 
were  not  clean. 

During  the  war,  the  utmost  care  was  given  to  the 
soldiers'  feet.  How  carefully  we  knitted  their  socks,  so 
that  no  seam  or  knot  should  chafe  them.  Every  man  was 
taught  just  how  to  stand  and  walk,  how  to  take  care  of 
his  precious  feet.  And  the  army  boots  were  made  exactly 
right  in  order  that  the  men  might  endure  the  long  marches 
over  rough  ground. 

The  war  is  over,  but  the  men  will  never  forget  the 
lessons  they  learned  in  the  care  of  their  bodies,  while 
they  were  in  the  service.  All  of  us  would  do  well  to 
care  for  our  feet  as  carefully  as  if  we  were  soldiers. 
If  our  feet  fail  us,  we  cannot  work  well,  we  cannot  take 


WATCH  YOUR  STEP  31 

long  country  rambles,  we  cannot  dance  or  play  with 
any  comfort.  A  pair  of  good,  sound  feet  is  one  of  the 
best  tools  any  worker  can  have. 

WATCH  YOUR  STEP 

Suppose  you  are  the  school-nurse,  and  a  girl  comes  to  you  for  help 
because  her  feet  ache  all  the  time.  What  three  things  must  you  find  out 
about  her  feet,  before  you  can  help  her? 

Make  a  print  of  your  bare  foot  on  a  piece  of  paper  and  compare  it  with  a 
flat-foot  and  with  normal  foot  prints.  Which  is  yours?  Locate  the  two 
arches  on  the  normal  print,  and  on  your  foot.  Now  try  to  explain  how 
these  arches  are  built,  and  why  they  are  helpful  to  us,  so  that  your  little 
sister  or  brother  could  understand. 

Policemen  are  not  taken  on  the  force  in  some  cities  if  they  are  flat-footed. 
Can  you  explain  why  arches  are  thought  so  important  for  policemen? 

Demonstrate  to  the  class  five  exercises  that  strengthen  arches  and  ankles. 
Teach  these  to  some  other  person. 

Indians  were  able  to  tell  tracks  made  by  themselves  from  tracks  made 
by  whites,  even  when  wearing  moccasins  of  the  same  kind.  How  could 
you  do  this?  Walk  like  an  Indian  now.  What  is  the  advantage  of  this 
kind  of  walking  over  ours? 

Go  downtown  and  notice  five  defects  in  shoes  offered  for  sale.  Find 
a  good-looking  and  hygienic  shoe  for  a  man.  A  woman.  A  child.  Which 
was  easiest  to  find?  What  were  the  good  points  you  looked  for?  Which 
cost  more — the  hygienic  or  the  unhygienic?  What  defects  and  what  good 
points  have  your  present  pair  of  shoes? 

Find  out  how  to  care  for  shoes,  to  increase  their  serviceableness.  Do 
you  so  care  for  your  shoes  ? 

As  the  school-nurse,  what  would  you  say  to  children  about  the  way  to 
keep  their  feet  free  from  corns,  calluses  and  other  foot  troubles? 

As  nurse,  what  would  you  tell  the  children  about  the  selection  and  care 
they  should  take  of  their  stockings? 

Are  you  able  to  keep  the  above  directions  for  two  weeks?  Keep  a 
record  of  your  experiences  in  trying  to  keep  the  rules.  Have  they 
helped  you  ? 


THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION 

I  EEMEMBEK  once  seeing  a  very  amusing  motion  pic- 
ture which  showed  an  old  carpenter  fallen  asleep  over 
his  work.  No  sooner  had  his  eyes  closed  than  his  tools 
all  sprang  into  life.  The  nails  stood  on  end  while  the 
hammer  pounded  them  in.  The  plane  sent  shavings  in 
all  directions.  The  saw  whizzed  through  a  board,  and 
the  auger  whirled  around  like  a  ballet  dancer. 

As  we  left  the  theater  my  little  nephew,  who  had  been 
with  me,  said,  "I'd  like  to  have  a  set  of  tools  like  those — 
tools  that  were  alive." 

It  set  me  thinking  about  these  bodily  tools  of  ours 
and  of  how  live  tools  differ  from  dead  ones.  It  seemed 
to  me  that  a  hammer  differs  from  a  fist,  and  a  pair  of 
pincers  differs  from  a  pair  of  fingers  in  two  very  impor- 
tant ways — ways  in  which  all  things  that  we  call  alive 
differ  from  dead  wood  and  stone.  In  the  first  place,  they 
move,  and  secondly  they  renew  and  repair  themselves. 

Anyone  who  wants  to  be  well  and  to  work  well  must 
move  rightly  and  must  renew  and  repair  himself  rightly. 

If  you  have  ever  tried  it,  you  know  how  impossible  it 
is  to  keep  absolutely  motionless.  Even  if  you  try  not  to 
move  a  muscle,  the  muscles  that  control  your  breathing 
and  the  beating  of  your  heart  keep  on  going.  The  blood 
keeps  moving  through  your  veins,  just  as  the  sap  flows 
through  the  tree  and  the  juice  through  the  flower.  When 
motion  stops,  life  stops.  When  the  child  plays  about, 
running  and  jumping,  we  say,  "How  full  of  life  he  is!" 
The  word  quick  used  to  mean  merely  alive,  and  the  Creed 


THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION 


33 


speaks  of  "the  quick  (meaning  the  living)  and  the  dead." 
Those  of  you  whose  older  brothers  or  friends  were  in 
the  medical  corps  of  the  army  know  that  they  wore  on 
their  collars  a  wand  with  two  snakes  twined  around  it, 
like  the  wand  carried  by  the  Greek  god  Hermes,  in  the 
picture  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  Doctors  use 
this  snake-twisted  wand 
because  Hermes  was  the  god  of 
medicine.  He  was  also  the 
messenger  of  the  gods  and  the 
god  of  athletics.  His  wand, 
like  a  king's  scepter,  was  a  sign 
of  his  power.  The  snakes 
twined  round  it  stood  for  wis- 
dom, and  the  wings  at  its  top 
for  speed.  You  sec  the  Greeks 
knew  but  little  about  medicine, 
but  no  one  has  ever  known  bet- 
ter than  they  how  to  develop 
strong,  swift  bodies. 

In  Athens  it  was  a  very  im- 
portant part  of  every  boy's 
education  to  learn  to  race,  box, 
wrestle,  jump,  throw  the  dis- 
cus and  compete  in  all  sorts  of 
sports.  Every  year  a  great  athletic  contest  was  held 
called  the  "Olympic  Games,"  and  the  best  athletes  from 
all  over  the  country  met  at  Athens. 

In  England,  too,  outdoor  sports  have  always  been 
popular.     Before    guns    were    invented,    every    soldier 

learned  to  use  a  bow  and  arrow.     The  people  loved  to 
s 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


ride,  fence,  wrestle  and  put  the  shot.  Indeed,  they  were 
so  fond  of  these  games  that  King  Edward  III  forbade 
them,  because  he  said  the  people  were  neglecting  their 
practice  with  the  bow  and  arrow  and  would  be  unpre- 
pared in  case  of  war.  In  English  stories  such  as  the 
tales  of  Eobin  Hood  and  Ivanhoe,  we  get  a  wonderful 

picture  of  the  common  peo- 
ple playing  at  fighting  with 
big  staffs  called  quarter- 
staves,  while  the  knights  rode 
in  tournaments  and  the 
ladies,  poor  things,  had  to 
play  the  harp,  or  sing  or  sew, 
and  seem  to  have  had  but  lit- 
tle chance  for  exercise. 

It  is  this  love  for  outdoor 
sports  that  has  made  the 
modern  Englishman  and 
American  so  strong  and 
healthy.  We  think  of  sav- 
ages as  wonderfully  strong 


and  athletic,  but  in  1904,  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  a 
modern  Olympic  contest  was  held  in  which  Indians,  Afri- 
cans, Moros,  Patagonians,  Filipinos  and  other  savage 
races  took  part.  To  everyone's  surprise,  they  could 
neither  throw,  shoot,  lift  weights,  run  nor  jump  anywhere 
near  so  well  as  the  white  men — which  shows  that  skill  in 
athletics,  like  skill  in  everything  else,  requires  brains  as 
well  as  muscles. 

In  olden  times,  when  men  made  their  living  by,  farming, 


THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION  35 

hunting,  fishing,  and  other  hard,  outdoor  work,  they  got 
plenty  of  exercise  in  that  way,  and  nowadays  there  are 
still  people  whose  work  gives  them  a  great  deal  of  exer- 
cise. But  farmwork  often  overworks  certain  muscles 
and  under-exercises  others.  The  right  sort  of  games 
and  exercise  will  help  farmworkers  to  all-round  develop- 
ment. As  for  those  of  us  who  are  going  to  be  clerks, 
dressmakers,  doctors,  stenographers,  or  teachers,  or  who 
are  going  to  work  in  a  shop  or  factory  where  we  bend  over 
one  task  and  use  one  set  of  muscles  all  day,  we  especially 


HUMERUS 


HAND  ULNA  , 

(rulcrumj 

need  to  think  more  about  this  question  of  motion 
or  exercise. 

As  you  probably  know,  your  bones  are  connected  and 
held  in  place  by  numerous  muscles.  You  have  all  seen 
raw  meat  and  therefore  know  what  muscle  looks  like. 
Muscle  is  elastic.  If  you  clench  your  fist  and  draw  it  up 
as  hard  as  you  can  to  your  shoulder,  you  will  see  the 
muscle  in  your  upper  arm  bulge  up,  for  instead  of  being 
stretched  out  taut,  as  it  usually  is,  it  is  now  tightened 
up  and  made  thicker. 

Now  what  does  exercising  our  muscles  do  for  them 
and  for  our  health? 


36  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

In  the  first  place,  it  makes  the  muscles  stronger.  If 
you  lie  perfectly  still  in  bed  for  a  week,  you  will  find  that 
your  leg  muscles  tremble  and  almost  refuse  to  hold  you 
up.  As  many  writers  have  pointed  out,  the  human  body 
is  the  only  tool  that  grows  stronger  with  use.  That 
is  why  babies,  kittens,  puppies  and  all  young  animals 
spend  most  of  their  time,  when  awake, 
in  motion.  That  is  why  the  muscles  of 
the  blacksmith  are  "  strong  as  iron 
bands. "  And  that  is  why  so  many- 
people  do  not  enjoy  long  walks,  hard 
climbs  and  vigorous  games.  They  have 
let  their  muscles  go  without  exercise 
for  so  long  that  they  have  become  soft 
and  weak. 

Another  way  in  which  exercise 
helps  the  body  is  that  it  makes  the 
heart  pump  more  rapidly  and  the 
breath  come  more  quickly  and  from 
deeper  down  in  the  lungs.  You  know 
from  experience  how  your  heart 
thumps  and  how  fast  you  breathe 
after  a  run.  Rapid  exercise  has 
somewhat  the  same  effect  on  your  body  that  shaking  has 
on  a  furnace  fire.  You  know  that  when  the  fire  is  dull 
and  choked  with  ashes,  a  good  "shaking  down"  will  get 
rid  of  the  ashes,  make  a  better  draft  through,  and  liven 
it  up  so  that  it  is  ready  for  more  coal. 

In  the  same  way,  when  you  exercise,  your  body,  through 


THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION  37 

breathing  more  rapidly  and  perspiring,  throws  off  the 
waste  matter  that  has  choked  it  and  you  are  l  i  livened  up ' ' 
all  over,  your  digestion  is  better  and  you  have  a 
better  appetite. 

The  best  sort  of  exercise  is  that  taken  outdoors  in 
the  form  of  games,  for  what  we  enjoy  always  does  us  more 
good  than  a  mere  task.  If  you  work  in  an  office  or  factory 
where  you  get  little  exercise  and  fresh  air,  you  ought  to 
make  a  great  effort  to  get  some  air  and  exercise  on  your 
way  to  work  and  going  home.  I  remember  a  girl  who  left 
school  to  go  into  a  candy  factory.  She  sat  all  day  at  a 
long  table  packing  candies  into  boxes.  The  air  was 
close,  the  smell  of  the  chocolate,  all  day  long,  sickened 
her,  she  humped  more  and  more  over  her  work  and  every 
day  she  grew  paler  and  more  tired. 

Her  mother  grew  quite  worried  about  Mabel  and 
asked  the  doctor  what  medicine  she  needed.  The  doctor 
advised  no  medicine  but  added,  "Tell  Mabel  to  ride  to 
work  on  the  platform  of  the  elevated  road  instead  of 
in  a  subway  train.  Tell  her  at  noon  to  go  out  and  take 
a  brisk  walk — brisk,  mind  you,  not  a  lady-like  saunter. 
At  night,  she  should  walk  as  far  as  she  can  without  get- 
ting overtired  and  then  ride  the  rest  of  the  way  home." 

Mabel  tried  it  and  it  not  only  made  a  great  difference 
in  her  health  and  happiness,  but  she  got  into  the  habit  of 
exercise — and  there  is  no  better  health  habit  in  the  world. 

In  addition  to  getting  some  exercise  going  to  and  from 
work  and  during  the  noon  hour,  those  of  us  who  are  in- 
doors all  the  week  ought  to  try  to  get  some  good  exercise 
in  the  evening  and  on  holidays.  Motion  pictures  are 


38 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


good  fun — I  am  fond  of  them,  myself — but  they  are  not 
a  very  good  way  to  spend  many  evenings,  if  you  have 


been  spending  the  day  in  the  same  way,  sitting  in  a  rather 
close  room.  I  wish  every  girl  or  boy  would  join  a 
Y.  W.  C.  A.,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  or  other  club  where  she  or  he 


THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION  39 

could  play  basket  ball,  dance,  swim,  and  have  a  good 
time  exercising  every  muscle  in  her  or  his  body. 

And  then  there  are  the  Scouts,  both  Boy  and  Girl, 
the  Campfire  Girls  and  other  clubs,  where  you  can  form 
a  delightful  circle  of  friends  and  do  a  lot  of  delightful 
things,  such  as  taking  country  " hikes,"  having  picnic 
suppers,  going  on  week-end  camping  parties,  going  swim- 
ming and  boating,  having  clam-bakes  and  dozens  of  other 
pleasant  things. 

Of  course  I  know  that  it  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  do 
these  things  in  the  city  as  in  the  country,  but  a  five  or 
ten  cent  fare  will  take  you  out  into  the  country  or  down  to 
the  shore  and  then  you  can  tramp  off  into  the  wilds.  It 
will  do  you  more  good  and  be  more  fun  than  any  ' '  movie ' ' 
or  dance  hall  you  ever  went  to.  I  am  not  objecting  to 
motion  pictures  and  dancing,  but  very  often,  usually  in 
fact,  they  shut  you  up  for  the  evening  in  dusty,  bad  air 
with  a  crowd  of  coughing,  sneezing  people,  instead  of 
taking  you  out  under  the  sky  in  the  fresh  air  and  among 
the  cool  silences  and  sweet  odors  of  the  woods. 

Another  thing  that  is  helpful,  though  it  never  takes 
the  place  of  outdoor  sports,  is  to  go  through  some  simple 
exercises  in  your  room  at  night  and  morning.  Always 
take  them  either  without  clothing  or  in  your  nightclothes, 
for  you  want  the  muscles  to  have  free  play. 

To  limber  the  backbone,  stand  with  the  weight  on  the 
balls  of  the  feet.  Keep  the  knees  stiff  and  bend  over  as 
far  as  possible,  trying  to  touch  the  floor.  After  some 
practice,  you  can  really  touch  it.  I  know  a  lady  who 
can  lay  her  palms  flat  on  the  floor. 


40  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

To  strengthen  the  muscles  of  the  back  and  shoulders, 
when  your  work  has  kept  you  bending  forward  all  day, 
lie  flat  on  your  stomach,  with  hands  on  hips.  Then  raise 
your  head  and  shoulders  as  far  as  possible. 

It  is  very  important  that  the  muscles  of  the  abdomen 
should  be  strong,  for  these  muscles  hold  the  bowels  and 
other  organs  in  place.  Weak  abdominal  muscles  are  one 
great  cause  of  constipation.  To  strengthen  these  mus- 
cles, lie  on  your  back  with  your  hands  under  your  hips 
and  raise  first  one  leg,  then  the  other,  then  both  together 
straight  up  in  the  air,  at  right  angles  with  your  body. 
This  is  hard  work  at  first,  but  some  people  grow  so 
strong  and  so  limber  that  they  can  not  only  raise  the  legs 
to  a  right  angle,  but  can  carry  them  clear  over  the  head, 
so  that  the  toes  touch  the  ground  over  the  head. 

The  whole  point  in  doing  any  sort  of  exercises  in  your 
room  is  to  do  them  for  a  few  minutes  every  morning. 
Exercise,  like  everything  else,  needs  to  be  taken  regu- 
larly, for  our  bodies  are  very  much  like  machines.  Our 
hearts  beat  with  a  regular,  measured  swing.  Our  lungs 
send  out  and  draw  in  the  air  with  a  regular  tide,  just  as 
the  waves  run  up  on  the  beach  and  then  ebb  back  to  the 
sea.  Our  whole  life  is  motion,  but  it  is  regular  motion. 

And  another  thing  to  remember  is  that  every  motion 
you  make,  in  your  tramps,  in  your  muscle  exercises,  in 
your  daily  work,  you  should  try  to  make  with  a  will. 
Our  work  and  play  is  a  part  of  the  work  and  play  of 
the  world.  The  earth  swings  around  the  sun,  the  tides 
rise  and  fall,  the  sap  flows  in  the  trees,  the  animals  work 
and  play.  Let's  prove  that  we  too  are  alive  by  not  crawl- 


THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION  41 

ing  and  humping  and  shuffling  through  the  world,  but 
moving  along  swiftly  and  strongly. 

THE  MEANING  OF  MOTION 

Think  about  the  people  of  other  times,  whose  history  you  have  studied. 
Try  making  lists  of  the  games  and  exercises  they  had  for  enjoyment  and 
the  development  of  strength.  How  many  of  these  are  like  games  we  play? 

Find  out  what  events  took  place  in  the  Olympic  games  of  the  Greeks. 
Can  you  find  pictures  showing  any  of  these?  Which  of  these  events  are 
included  in  our  school  and  college  track-meets?  What  powers  must  a  boy 
or  girl  have  to  succeed  in  any  of  these? 

Can  you  find  and  tell  any  true  stories  where  a  hero  or  heroine  was  able 
to  do  a  great  deed  because  of  being  in  fine  physical  condition. 

Examine  some  raw  meat,  to  be  sure  you  know  how  muscle  looks.  Why 
is  it  so  pink  ?  Find  out  how  muscles  are  attached  firmly  to  bones.  Examine, 
your  biceps  muscle  in  action  and  find  out  how  it  behaves  in  producing 
movements.  When  you  want  to  increase  the  size  of  these  muscles,  what  do 
you  do?  Can  you  tell  why?  How  many  times  can  you  "chin"  yourself? 

Count  your  pulse  while  standing  still,  and  ask  someone  else  to  count  your 
breathing,  for  a  minute.  Now  run  briskly  for  three  minutes.  Take  the 
same  counts.  Note  also  your  temperature,  and  the  color  and  feeling 
of  your  skin.  What  do  these  experiments  tell  you  about  the  effects  on  heart, 
lungs  and  skin  of  working  your  muscles?  What  are  the  health  benefits 
that  come  from  these  effects? 

Suppose  you  have  finished  school  and  gone  to  work,  with  hours  from 
8 : 30  to  5 : 30.  What  ways  are  there  for  you  to  have  enough  recreation  and 
exercise?  List  them  in  the  order  of  their  value.  If  you  like,  try  a  debate 
about  the  values  of  the  various  exercises  chosen  by  your  classmates. 

If  exercise  is  to  produce  the  best  health  results  when,  where  and  how 
shall  it  be  taken?  \Vhen  you  have  decided  upon  these  points,  make  a  list 
of  exercises  a  city  working  girl  or  boy  could  take  to  meet  the  requirements. 

Do  you  know  anyone  who  has  the  habit  of  exercise  and  fresh  air  ?  Does 
it  seem  a  good  habit?  How  was  it  formed? 

Form  a  habit  of  at  least  one  hour's  exercise  outdoors  daily.  How  will 
you  keep  yourself  reminded? 


FOOD 

THE  second  way  in  which  live  things  differ  from  dead 
ones  is  that  live  things  renew  and  repair  themselves. 
If  a  knife  blade  is  broken,  a  new  blade  must  be  bought, 
but  if  a  person's  arm  is  broken,  the  pieces  of  bone  will 
grow  together  again.  If  you  fall  into  the  water  and 
get  your  watch  water-soaked,  its  delicate  machinery  will 
rust,  and  you  may  perhaps  take  cold.  But  the  watch  will 
never  rid  itself  of  the  rust — it  must  go  to  the  jeweler- 
while  you  will  soon  "  shake  off"  your  cold. 

And  as  plants  and  animals  repair  injuries  done  to 
them,  so  also  they  can  renew  themselves.  You  have  often 
seen  a  knife  blade  that  is  worn  thin  by  long  use.  We 
have  all  seen  men  and  women  who  have  grown  thin  from 
working  too  long  and  too  hard.  When  a  knife  blade  is 
worn  thin,  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  use  it  until  it  snaps 
and  then  throw  it  away.  But  if  we  find  that  we  are 
growing  thin,  too  thin,  what  do  we  do?  We  eat  more, 
sleep  more,  try  to  work  a  little  more  easily.  In  these 
ways,  we  shall  probably  before  long  regain  the  flesh 
we  lost. 

While  we  are  little  children,  most  of  us  eat  whatever 
our  parents  buy,  but  you  boys  and  girls  who  are  soon 
going  to  be  a  part  of  the  business  world  need  to  know 
something  about  food,  for  what  you  eat  will  make  a  great 
difference  in  how  well  you  work.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  sort  of  work  you  do  will  make  a  difference  in  what 
food  you  need  and  in  the  amount  you  should  eat.  There 

42 


FOOD  43 

is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  the  old  saying,  "Tell  me  what 
you  eat  and  I  '11  tell  you  what  you  are. ' ' 

Now  just  what  does  food  do  for  our  bodies  1  It  does 
two  chief  things.  In  the*  first  place,  it  "keeps  our  fire 
burning,"  so  that  we  have  strength  to  work  and  play, 
so  that  our  hearts  will  keep  on  pumping,  just  as  the  fire 
in  an  engine  keeps  the  rods  and  pistons  moving,  so  that  the 
wheels  will  turn  and  the  engine  move. 

In  the  second  place,  food  supplies  material  so  that 
our  bodies  will  not  wear  out,  and  even,  in  the  case  of 
children  and  young  people,  so  that  they  will 
grow.     Food  is  to  our  bodies  somewhat  as  oil 
is  to  a  lamp.     When  the  oil  is  all  burned,  the 
wick  itself  will  burn  awhile  and  finally  the  last 
spark  will  die  out.     So,  if  we  go  without  food, 
for  awhile  our  life-fire  will  feed  on  our  bodies, 
and  we  grow  thinner  and  thinner,  until  at 
last  we  die — the  fire  goes  out. 

Now  what  food  is  best  for  building  material  and  for 
supplying  us  with  warmth  and  energy  1  Let  us  examine 
some  of  Mother  Nature's  foods.  How  does  she  feed 
the  baby  plant,  the  baby  bird,  the  baby  animal? 

If  you  look  closely  at  a  split  dried  bean,  you  will  see 
the  tiny  plant  in  the  center,  with  one  half  of  the  bean  on 
each  side  of  it,  like  a  sort  of  saddle-bag.  These  saddle- 
bags are  the  food  stores  on  which  the  baby  plant  lives, 
and  if  the  bean  is  planted,  as  the  seedlet  grows  into  a 
plant,  its  food-bags  shrink  and  wither  away,  for  all  the 
food  in  them  has  been  used  by  the  growing  plant.  It 
has  used  up  a  good  deal  of  building  material  and  a  great 
deal  of  energy  in  pushing  its  way  up  through  the  earth. 


44  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

So  we  place  the  dried  bean  among  the  foods  that  help 
our  bodies  to  grow  and  to  work. 

The  baby  bird,  while  in  the  egg,  is  kept  warm  by  his 
mother's  feathers  and  he  is  not  stirring  about  much, 
so  he  needs  little  energy.  But  he  has  to  do  a  great  deal 
of  growing  and  needs  a  lot  of  building  material  to  form 
his  bones  and  muscles  and  feathers. 
The  egg  is  his  food  store,  and  eggs 
are  one  of  our  best  body-building 
foods.  But  they  do  not  give  us 
much  warmth  and  energy — we  call 
them  for  that  reason,  a  "light"  food. 

The  baby  animal  is  fed  on  milk,  which  has  often  been 
called  the  "ideal  food,"  because  it  provides  plenty  of 
material  to  build  the  body  and  lots  of  warmth  and  energy. 
There  is  no  other  food  that  will  take  its  place  for  babies 
and  children,  and  it  is  one  of  the  very  best  foods  for 
grown  people. 

I  do  not  think  that  it  is  necessary  for  us  all  to  study 
the  whole  science  of  foods,  nor  to  learn  the  names,  even, 
that  scientists  give  to  different  sorts  of  foods.  Scient- 
ists call  the  building  foods  "proteins"  and  the  warmth- 
and-energy -giving  foods  "carbohydrates"  and  fats.  It 
makes  no  great  difference  whether  you  remember  the 
scientific  names,  so  long  as  you  understand  what  foods 
you  yourself  need. 

If  you  are  still  young  and  need  to  grow,  you  must 
have  a  certain  amount  of  building  food,  and  the  very  best 
building  food  is  milk.  Dried  beans  and  peas  are  good, 
and  so  are  eggs  and  fish  and  cheese.  Meat  is  a  building 
food,  but  most  people  are  inclined  to  eat  too  much  of  it, 


FOOD 


45 


which  is  hard  on  the  stomach  and  the  kidneys.  It  is 
wiser  to  drink  plenty  of  milk  and  to  eat  very  little  meat. 
A  great  many  people  do  without  meat  entirely  and  are 
perfectly  well. 

The  heat-and-energy-giving  foods  include  all  the  fats, 
such  as  butter,  oil,  cream, 
fat  meat,  etc.,  and  all  the 
foods  that  are  largely 
made  of  starch  and  sugar, 
such  as  potatoes,  rice, 
bread,  oatmeal,  cornmeal, 
sugar,  oakes  and  sweets. 

I  once  knew  a  girl 
about  twelve  years  old  who 
went  away  from  home  to  a 
boarding  school.  When 
she  arrived,  she  looked  so 
pale  and  thin  and  had 
such  dark  circles  under  her 
eyes  that  her  teachers 
wondered  what  could  be 
wrong  with  her.  But  on 
the  very  first  day,  they 
found  out.  At  breakfast, 
Margaret  would  not  eat  anything  but  some  fried  potatoes 
and  bread  and  butter.  She  would  have  liked  coffee, 
but  she  did  not  care  for  milk  or  for  the  cereal  and 
fruit  that  the  others  were  enjoying.  At  dinner,  she 
ate  two  helpings  of  potatoes  and  two  of  pudding,  but 
she  did  not  like  fish,  or  soup  or  green  peas.  At 
supper,  she  begged  for  tea  but  refused  milk  and  ate  only 


46 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


BALANCE  TOUR  MEALS 
EAT  SOMETHING  FROM  EACH  GROUP 

CEREALS  ~  bread  macaroni  rice,oat- 
meal  and  other  breakfast  foods. 
FATS~  butter,  creamuolive  or  other 
oil  meat  fat. 

VEGETABLES  and  FRUITS-  at  least 
one  of  each  everyday. 
PRQIHN  FQODSmeateQQS,  cheese, 
fish,  dried  beans  and  peas 
LET  MILK  BE  THE  BALANCE  WHEEL 
USE  SWEETS  SPARINGLY 


FOOD  47 

some  bread  and  jam.  The  housekeeper  who  arranged 
the  meals  found  that  Margaret  ate  practically  nothing 
but  bread,  potatoes  and  sweets.  I  decided  to  have  a 
talk  with  Margaret,  for  she  was  a  bright  girl  and  I 
felt  sure  she  wanted  to  be  well  and  strong.  So  I  explained 
to  her  that  she  could  never  grow  if  she  ate  so  little  food 
and  only  one  kind  of  food,  and  that  if  she  made  a  little 
effort,  she  could  soon  teach  herself  to  like  pretty  much 
all  kinds  of  eatables. 

She  promised  to  try  and  inside  of  a  month  she  proudly 
told  me  that  she  liked  everything  on  the  table.  I  don't 
think  I  ever  saw  a  greater  change  in  anyone.  She  fat- 
tened up,  her  cheeks  grew  rosy,  the  dark  circles  under 
her  eyes  disappeared  and  there  was  not  a  healthier, 
happier  child  in  the  school — all  because  her  body  was 
getting  plenty  of  the  right  kinds  of  food  instead  of  being 
starved  on  a  little  of  one  kind. 

Besides  foods  that  give  building  material  and  heat 
and  energy,  the  body  needs  about  two  quarts  of  water  a 
day,  some  minerals  and  certain  materials  called  vitamines. 

You  can  very  readily  see  why  our  bodies  need  water, 
for  all  living  things  are  largely  made  up  of  water.  The 
warm  breath  from  our  lungs  is  full  of  water,  as  you  can 
prove  by  breathing  on  a  cold  mirror.  And  of  course  the 
body  loses  a  good  deal  of  water  through  the  skin  in  per- 
spiration and  through  the  kidneys.  To  make  up  for  this 
loss,  we  must  drink  a  great  deal  of  water.  My  rule  is 
a  glass  first  thing  in  the  morning  and  last  thing  at  night, 
a  glass  at  each  meal  and  one  or  more  in  the  middle  of 
the  morning  and  middle  of  the  afternoon.  There  is  no 
harm  in  drinking  at  meals— quite  the  opposite— but  very 


48  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

cold  water  is  not  wholesome  and  we  should  not  use  water 
to  wash  down  lumps  of  half -chewed  food. 

As  for  our  needing  some  mineral  in  our  food,  per- 
haps the  idea  seems  strange  to  you,  but  salt  is  a  min- 
eral and  you  know  that  tears  and  perspiration  both  are 
salty — so  it  is  clear  that  our  bodies  need  salt.  There 
are  other  minerals  in  the  body,  such  as  lime  in  our  bones, 
and  iron  in  our  blood.  These  minerals  are  found  in 
milk,  eggs,  fruits  and  vegetables.  That  is  one  reason 
why  lettuce,  spinach  and  other  green  vegetables,  although 
they  do  not  give  us  much  fuel  or  energy,  are  needed  to 
keep  our  bodies  in  good  running  order. 

Besides  the  body-building  proteins  the  warming, 
energizing  fats,  sugars  and  starches,  the  necessary  water 
and  minerals,  there  are  certain  substances  about  which 
little  is  known.  They  are  called  "vitamines"  and  are 
found  in  fresh  milk,  butter,  cereals,  eggs,  carrots,  fresh 
fruit,  potatoes  and  meat.  Just  what  vitamines  are  no- 
body has  yet  found  out,  but  we  know  that  without  them 
in  car  food  we  cannot  keep  our  health. 

And  now  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  your  daily  plans 
for  keeping  well?  It  means,  first,  and  foremost,  that 
you  cannot  do  good  work  on  a  breakfast  of  coffee  and 
toast,  a  lunch  of  tea  and  cake  and  a  dinner  of  meat, 
potatoes  and  cornstarch  pudding.  Such  a  diet  gives  you 
hardly  anything  but  starch.  On  the  other  hand,  I  know 
boys  and  men  who  have  ham  and  eggs  for  breakfast, 
sausages  for  luncheon  and  two  large  helpings  of  meat 
for  dinner.  Such  a  diet  gives  entirely  too  much  building 
material,  and  too  little  starch. 

Of  course,  your  diet  must  depend  on  your  work.  If 
you  are  chopping  wood,  hammering  steel  or  doing  some- 


FOOD 


49 


thing  else  that  needs  a  great  deal  of  muscle-work,  you 
will  want  to  keep  a  roaring  fire  under  your  boiler.    But 


2 


Courtesy  of  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture 


if  you  sit  at  a  table  using  your  brain  or  doing  some  ' i  light ' ' 
work,  you  will  want  a  much  lighter  diet. 

But  in  any  case,  start  off  with  a  good  breakfast,  of 


50  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

fruit,  cereal,  milk,  toast,  and,  if  you  wish,  them,  eggs.  Cof- 


FOOD  51 

fee  and  tea  contain  no  food  whatever,  except  the  milk  and 
sugar  that  you  put  into  them.  They  "set  you  up"  for 
a  time  so  that  you  do  not  feel  the  need  of  so  much  real 
food  as  you  would  otherwise  eat,  and  they  often  upset 
the  nerves  and  stomach.  The  habit  of  tea  and  coffee 
drinking  is  easily  formed  and  hard  to  break.  It  is  a 
pity  that  so  many  young  people  should  form  it. 

As  for  luncheon,  stores  and  factories  often  provide  a 
hot  lunch  at  cost  for  their  employees,  which  is  a  good 
rule,  since  it  "works  both  ways,"  improving  the  workers' 
health  and  also  their  work.  Some  workers  carry  thermos 
bottles  of  hot  soup  or  cocoa,  This,  with  some  nice  sand- 
wiches, a  bit  of  fruit,  and  cake  or  cookies,  makes  an  invit- 
ing luncheon  and  one  that  will  keep  you  feeling  "fit"  until 
dinner  time. 

I  often  eat  my  luncheon  in  a  little  restaurant  where 
I  see  a  good  many  girls  who  work  in  a  factory  nearby. 
Almost  all  of  them  are  eating  cakes,  eclairs,  tarts,  pie  or 
some  -other  sweet  stuff  and  drinking  either  coffee  or  tea. 
I  remember  once  seeing  a  girl — such  a  pretty  girl  with 
naturally  rosy  cheeks  and  bright  eyes— who  had  bought 
a  glass  of  milk,  a  dish  of  spaghetti  and  some  fruit.  I 
was  so  surprised  that  I  suppose  it  showed  in  my  face, 
for  she  smiled  and  said,  "I  used  to  have  coffee  and  an 
eclair,  and  then  buy  a  bag  of  chocolates  to  eat  during  the 
afternoon,  but  I  found  I  just  couldn't  work  and  was  ner- 
vous and  worn  out.  And  one  day,  out  in  front  of  this 
restaurant,  I  saw  a  team  of  big,  fine  horses,  strong  as 
oxen,  eating  their  lunch.  When  they  had  finished  their 
oats,  the  teamster  gave  them  each  an  apple  and  they 


52  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

seemed  so  strong  and  ready  for  work  that  1  envied  them. 
Then  I  got  to  thinking  about  what  I  had  been  taught  in 
school  about  eating  and  I  decided  I  was  a  goose  to  think 
that  I  could  work  without  any  decent  food.  And  ever 
since  then,  I  eat  a  good,  filling,  sensible  lunch.  I  work 
hard  all  day,  walk  most  of  the  way  home  and  have  a 
rousing  appetite  for  dinner.  No  more  eclair  and  candy 
lunches  for  me ! "  • 

FOOD 

To  get  the  real  meaning  of  this  chapter,  we  want  to  hold  clearly  in  mind 
the  differences  between  our  living  body's  tools  and  inanimate  tools  and 
machines.  \V  hat  are  these  two  differences  ? 

If  someone  offered  to  show  you  some  wonderful  magic  which  could  change 
carrots,  milk,  and  wheat  into  a  boy  playing  football,  would  you  believe  it? 
After  reading  this  chapter,  could  you  think  of  a  true  explanation  of 
such  magic? 

How  could  you  find  out  from  Nature  what  foods  to  eat,  to  give  you  heat 
and  energy  ?  Name  such  foods.  Tell  your  school-mates  how  you  knew  these 
were  energy  foods. 

Where  will  you  find  the  foods  nature  provides  for  the  building  materials 
of  growing  animals?  What  proof  have  you  that  these  are  building  foods? 
At  what  ages  do  people  and  animals  need  the  most  of  such  foods? 

Why  must  all  things  have  water?  How  much  do  you  need*  Watch 
yourself  for  a  few  days  and  state  on  how  many  days  you  drink  enough 
water.  Are  there  any  dangers  in  drinking  water?  If  you  think  so,  tell 
how  they  can  be  avoided. 

Coarse,  rough  foods  may  not  be  digested  but  they  are  very  necessary. 
What  are  such  foods  and  why  are  they  good  for  us? 

How  do  you  suppose  the  little  bones  in  babies'  legs  and  arms  ever 
become  as  big,  hard  and  strong  as  yours? 

What  would  you  give  the  babies  to  eat  or  drink  to  help  bones  become 
strong,  and  why? 

What  foods  should  growing  creatures  eat,  to  give  them  the  minerals 
their  bodies  need?  Where  do  you  suppose  such  foods  get  these  minerals? 

You  may  have  heard  of  the  children  in  Europe,  and  in  some  parts  of 
our  own  country,  who  are  pale,  thin,  and  do  not  grow.  Their  food  is  mainly 
bread,  soup,  potato — sometimes  a  little  meat  or  syrup.  Even  if  they  had 
plenty  of  these  things  they  could  not  keep  their  health.  What  are  the 
magic  foods  they  need  to  help  keep  their  bodies  healthy? 


FOOD  53 

Plan  some  breakfasts,  lunches  and  dinners  which  will  give  you  energy, 
building  materials  and  help  keep  you  healthy.  Why  should  a  boy  be  able 
to  plan  such  meals  as  well  as  a  girl? 

Does  it  make  any  difference  in  a  worker's  output  if  he  has  a  right  or 
wrong  food  ?  In  a  little  child's  growth  ?  In  a  boy's  or  a  girl's  school 
standing?  Try  to  convince  someone  who  disagrees  with  you  that  you 
are  right. 

Why  do  we  say  "Food  makes  the  man?"  Find  some  example  in 
geography  or  history  to  prove  it.  Find  some  example  in  your  school  that 
proves  this. 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT 


Now  how  do  our  bodies  perform  the  miracle  of  turn- 
ing meat  and  potatoes,  vegetables  and  fruit  into  muscle, 
bone,  blood  and  tissue? 

You  will  say,  very  promptly,  by  digestion.  But  what 
is  digestion?  The  word  digestion  means,  really,  taking 
apart.  Long  before  you  put  a  piece  of  potato  into  your 

mouth,  this  process  of  taking 
apart,  separating  the  use- 
ful part  from  the  useless, 
has  begun.  When  the 
potato  is  dug  from  the 
ground,  the  tops  are  thrown 
aside  and  only  the  potato  is 
sent  to  market.  Next  the 
peel  is  removed,  either  by  the 
cook,  or  by  yourself.  Then 
the  taking  apart  process  is 
continued  by  your  knife  and 
fork,  cutting  the  potato  into 
proper  mouthf uls.  Next  come  the  teeth,  grinding  and  cut- 
ting, while  the  saliva  softens  the  potato  into  a  smooth, 
half -liquid  mass. 

If  you  examine  the  illustration,  you  will  see  how  the 
softened  food  slips  down  your  throat  into  a  tube  called  the 
esophagus,  leading  into  your  stomach.  The  stomach  is 
much  like  a  pear-shaped  rubber  bag,  which  stretches  or 
shrinks  according  to  whether  it  is  full  or  empty.  It  is 

54 


OESOP 


STOMACH 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT 


lined  with  a  very  thin  skin  or  membrane,  which  gives  out 
a  sort  of  juice  (the  gastric  juice),  just  as  your  outer  skin 
gives  out  sweat. 

If  you  have  ever  seen  a  washing  machine  at  work, 
you  have  a  pretty  fair  idea  of  the  way  your  stomach 
works.  The  washing  machine  rocks  back  and  forth,  so 
that  the  water  swashes 
vigorously  through  the 
clothes  and  drives  out  the 
dirt.  The  stomach  does 
not  actually  rock,  but  its 
walls  squeeze  in  and  out, 
so  that  the  juice  is  mixed 
all  through  every  bit  of 
food.  This  juice  is  acid, 
and  you  doubtless  know 
that  acids  have  a  great 
softening  effect.  So,  by 
the  time  that  the  potato 
passes  out  of  the  stomach 
into  the  intestine,  or  bow- 
els, it  is  a  liquid,  with  no 
lumps,  about  like  a  thick  soup. 

The  intestine  is  a  tube,  about  twenty  feet  long,  which 
also  mixes  a  fluid  with  the  food.  Along  this  tube,  the 
food  is  moved  by  a  series  of  pinchings  together  of  the 
walls,  just  as  a  pastry  cook  forces  more  and  more  icing  out 
of  the  pastry  tube,  by  squeezing  the  bag.  And  as  the 
food  moves  along,  it  is  now  so  softened  and  all  its  parti- 
cles so  separated,  and  so  changed  by  the  acid  juice  of 
the  stomach  and  by  the  intestinal  juice,  that  it  can  pass 


56 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


through  the  walls  of  the  intestines  and  goes  right  into 
the  blood.     The  blood  carries  it  all  over  the  body,  feeding 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT  57 

muscles,  bones,  and  all  the  organs,  just  as  sap  carries 
food  to  plant  cells. 

As  you  see,  the  whole  process  of  digestion  is  a  pro- 
cess of  separating  the  food,  the  useful  parts  going  into 
the  blood  and  the  waste  parts  passing  out  of  the  body. 
Getting  rid  of  these  wastes  is  one  of  the  most  important 
things  that  a  worker  needs  to  remember.  Constipation 
causes  more  headaches,  tired  feelings,  colds,  and  general 
troubles  than  almost  any  other  one  thing.  Constipation 
means  that  the  decaying  wastes  are  left  in  your  body 
so  long  that  they  pass  into  the  blood  and  poison  the  body. 
You  do  not  eat  wastes  such  as  potato  vines,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  digestive  process.  And  yet  this  is  just  as 
sensible  as,  when  the  digestive  process  is  over,  not  get- 
ting rid  of  its  waste. 

There  are  four  chief  ways  of  fighting  a  tendency  to 
constipation.  The  first  is  to  have  a  regular  hour,  pre- 
ferably right  after  breakfast. 

The  second  is  to  take  as  much  exercise  as  possible. 

The  third  is  to  drink  plenty  of  water. 

The  fourth  is  to  eat  plenty  of  fruit,  green  vegetables, 
and  coarse  food,  such  as  whole  wheat  bread,  oatmeal,  etc. 

You  cannot  expect  your  body  to  run  well  when  it  is 
clogged  with  stale  waste  matter,  any  more  than  you  can 
expect  an  automobile  to  run  well  when  it  is  all  clogged 
with  carbon. 

We  cannot  control  the  action  of  our  stomachs  or  in- 
testines, but  we  can  choose  our  food  and  we  can  chew  it. 
We  have  already  talked  about  choosing  food  wisely. 
Now  how  about  chewing? 

Since  digestion  means  separation,  you  can  easily  see 


DENTINE. 


FUL.P  CAVITY 


58  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

how  important  it  is  that  we  should  have  good  tools  with 
which  to  do  the  separating.  The  work  of  the  stomach 
and  intestine  is  made  much  harder  if  the  teeth  are 
not  in  condition  to  do  their  part  in  preparing  the  food. 
If  you  loot  at  the  picture,  you  will  see  that  the  upper 
part,  or  crown  of  the  tooth,  which  is  the  only  part  that 
shows  above  the  gum,  is  covered  with  a  hard  white  ena- 
mel. This  enamel  is  much 
harder  than  bone  and  is  meant 
to  protect  the  soft  inside  of  the 
tooth.  If  it  is  cracked  by  our 
using  our  teeth  as  nut  crackers, 
the  softer  parts  of;  the  tooth 
inside,  will  suffer.  Don't  abuse 
your  tools  by  making  them  do 
things  for  which  they  were 
never  intended.  It  is  as  silly  to 
crack  nuts  with  your  teeth  as  to  whittle  sticks  with  a 
razor — sillier,  because  you  can  buy  a  new  razor,  but  not 
a  new,  real  set  of  teeth. 

Inside  the  enamel  is  a  bony  material  called  dentine 
and  inside  the  dentine  is  the  pulp,  with  the  blood  vessels 
and  nerves  running  up  into  it  through  a  tiny  hole  in 
the  tip  of  the  root. 

So  long  as  the  enamel  is  not  broken  or  worn  away, 
the  tooth  will  ordinarily  be  all  right.  Some  people  how- 
ever, break  the  enamel  by  rough  usage,  and  a  great  many 
more  people  allow  it  to  be  eaten  away  by  their  careless— 
really  dirty — habits. 

I  suppose  you  have  often  seen  a  silver  spoon  black- 
ened and  spoiled  for  lack  of  cleaning.  Much  the  same 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT  59 

thing  happens  to  uncleaned  teeth.  If  bits  of  food 
are  left  between  the  teeth,  they  start  to  decay.  The  decay 
forms  acids — you  know  that  we  talk  of  food  as  "souring" 
— and  the  acid  eats  through  the  enamel,  eats  still  more 
quickly  through  the  dentine,  attacks  the  pulp,  and  then, 
the  tooth  nerve  begins  to  "jump1'  and  ache. 

Decayed  teeth  mean  half-chewed  food,  for  it  is  not 
easy  to  chew  with  sensitive, 
aching  teeth.  / \ ENAMEL 

They  mean  bad  breath, 

indigestion,  and  a  most  unat-     /M  ^  |Jf\      ^Jif  CAVITY 
tractive  month. 

They  also  may  mean  suf- 
fering from  various  troubles 
in  many  parts  of  the  body. 
If  an  abscess  forms  at  the  root  of  a  tooth,  the  poison- 
ous pus  gets  into  the  blood  and  is  carried  all  over 
the  body.  I  remember  several  years  ago  having  a 
great  deal  of  pain  in  my  knees.  Every  time  I  knelt,  they 
gave  a  fearful  twinge.  I  should  never  have  thought  of  my 
teeth  as  the  root  of  the  trouble,  but  my  dentist  took  an 
X-ray  of  my  mouth  and  at  the  root  of  a  back  tooth,  there 
was  an  abscess.  I  had  the  tooth  pulled  and  my  knees 
gave  me  no  further  trouble. 

And  now  how  are  we  to  keep  our  teeth  clean? 

A  great  many  people  who  think  they  are  perfectly 
cleanly  content  themselves  with  giving  their  front  teeth 
a  hasty  rub  when  they  wash  in  the  morning.  This  al- 
ways reminds  me  of  a  girl  I  used  to  know  who  put  on 
a  pair  of  clean  gloves,  because  she  didn't  have  time  to 
wash  her  hands.  The  fact  is  that  our  front  teeth  are  not 


60 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


really  anything  like  so  important  as  our  back  ones.  The 
front  teeth  are  meant  for  cutting  and  biting.  Biting  is 
important,to  savages,  who  tear  their  meat  from  the  bone 


with  the  teeth,  but  we  do  not  bite  most  of  our  food,  instead 
we  cut  it  with  a  knife  and  place  it  in  our  mouths  with 
a  fork  or  spoon. 

But  the  back  teeth  are  meant  for  crushing  and  grind- 
ing the  food  so  as  to  separate  it  and  get  it  ready  for 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT  61 

the  stomach  and  intestine.  It  is  a  terrible  loss  to  be 
deprived  of  one's  back  teeth. 

The  teeth  need  brushing  whenever  they  have  been 
used — that  is  after  every  meal,  so  that  no  bits  of  food 
may  be  left  to  decay.  You  would  not  eat  with  soiled 
spoons  and  forks.  Why  should  you  eat  with  soiled  teeth? 

They  should  also  be  cleaned  before  breakfast,  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  any  acid,  unpleasant  taste,  and  the  last 
thing  before  going  to  bed,  so  that  they  shall  be  perfectly 
clean  and  have  no  chance  for  harboring  sour  food  during 
the  night. 

Having  settled  the  question  of  when  to  brush,  the 
question  remains  of  how  to  brush.  Choose  a  brush  that 
is  neither  soft  nor  hard,  but,  like  the  little  bear's  por- 
ridge, "just  right."  Dip  the  brush  into  salted  water  or 
some  simple  tooth-powder  and  brush  all  the  teeth,  front 
and  back  ones,  and  on  the  inner  side,  as  well  as  the  outer. 

Do  not  scrub,  for  fear  of  breaking  the  thin  skin  of 
the  gums,  and  do  not  brush  across  the  teeth.  The 
ridges  in  the  teeth  run  up  and  down,  and  to  get  the  brush 
into  these  tiny  ridges,  brush  the  teeth  up  and  down. 

After  meals,  clear  the  spaces  between  the  teeth  from 
any  bits  of  food,  by  using  a  piece  of  dental  floss,  or  a 
rubber  band. 

Close  to  the  gums  (especially  on  the  inside  of  the 
front  lower  teeth)  one  often  finds  a  line  of  yellow,  or 
orange.  This  is  tartar,  a  hard  substance  that  you  can 
partly,  but  not  always  entirely,  prevent  by  cleaning. 
Twice  a  year,  you  should  go  to  the  dentist  to  have  your 
teeth  examined  for  any  trouble,  and  it  is  wise  to  have 


62  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

the  dentist  remove  this  tartar  with  his  instruments. 
Otherwise  the  tartar  is  likely  to  loosen  your  teeth. 

Lastly,  don't  try  to  clean  your  teeth  with  a  dirty 
brush.  Be  sure  to  wash  the  brush  after  using  it  and 
keep  it  in  an  airy  place,  where  it  will  dry  quickly.  It 
is  a  good  thing  once  in  awhile  to  dip  the  brush  into  boric 
acid,  strong  salt  water,  or  let  it  lie  all  day  in  the  sun,  to 
kill  any  germs  that  may  lurk  in  it. 

Good  teeth  are  attractive.  I've  heard  of  a  boy's 
losing  an  opportunity  for  a  good  job,  just  because  he 
had  black,  unsightly  teeth. 

Good  teeth  are  the  first  step  in  good  digestion  and 
are  necessary  to  good  health. 

And  since  a  good  appearance  and  good  health  are 
both  needed  to  get  and  hold  a  good  position,  no  worker 
can  afford  poor  teeth. 

THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT 

When  you  hear  people  talk  about  digestion,  what  do  they  mean  ?  What 
really  is  digestion  ? 

What  work  does  the  stomach  do  for  us  in  digestion?  Tell  how  it 
does  this  work. 

Where  does  the  bread,  egg,  and  milk  which  you  may  have  had  for 
breakfast,  go  after  it  leaves  the  stomach?  What  does  it  find  awaiting  it 
there  to  complete  the  work  of  digestion  ? 

When  digestion  has  been  finished,  what  becomes  of  the  digested  part? 
What  should  become  of  the  undigested  part? 

Think  how  an  automobile  would  work  if  carbon  were  never  removed 
from  the  engine?  A  furnace,  if  ashes  were  never  removed?  What  resem- 
blance is  there  between  these  things  and  our  bodies  if  the  undigested  wastes 
are  not  removed? 

What  are  the  evils  that  come  to  the  body  through  constipation? 

How  can  an  intelligent  person  control  his  daily  living  habits,  so  as  to 
avoid  constipation  entirely? 

Can  we  call  our  teeth  our  first  aids  in  getting  our  food  digested? 

Take  a  mirror  and  find  in  your  own  mouth  all  the  parts  of  a  tooth 
described  in  this  chapter.  Which  part  did  you  see?  Not  see?  Why  not? 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  EAT  63 

What  is  the  value  of  the  shining  enamel  covering  our  teeth?  From 
what  dangers  should  we  protect  it? 

Do  you  know  what  acids  are?  If  not,  perhaps  your  teacher  will  give 
you  some  litmus  paper  and  show  you  how  to  recognize  them.  Have  you 
noticed  any  foods  not  acid  become  so?  Tell  about  it.  Now  can  you  tell 
why  food  lodged  between  the  teeth,  may  form  acids  and  hurt  the  teeth? 
Do  you  think  the  acid  juices  of  fruits,  quickly  swallowed,  do  hurt  the  teeth? 

How  do  the  acids  of  decay  harm  the  teeth? 

What  are  the  evil  results  of  decayed  teeth? 

Will  it  hurt  to  let  your  baby  teeth  decay,  even  though  you  will  get  per- 
manent ones  later?  How  will  you  make  this  clear  to  your  little  brothers 
and  sisters? 

What  is  your  plan  for  cleaning  your  teeth?  What  tools  do  you  use? 
How  often?  How  do  you  keep  your  brush  sweet  and  clean?  What  help 
must  you  get  from  the  dentist  in  keeping  your  teeth  in  good  condition? 

Write  a  list  of  reasons  why  it  will  pay  a  boy  or  girl  who  wants  to  get 
a  job,  to  have  a  set  of  sound  and  shining  teeth. 


CABE  OF  THE  SKIN 

EVEEY  machine  or  tool  that  is  exposed  to  the  weather 
must  be  protected  by  some  sort  of  coating.  Wood  de- 
cays and  iron  and  steel  rust,  if  they  are  allowed  to  remain 
unprotected.  We  paint  our1  wooden  and  iron  fences, 
and  the  hulls  of  our  ships.  We  paint  our  ambulances 
and  tanks. 

Nature  does  the  same  thing.  Every  plant  or  animal 
is  carefully  protected  by  a  waterproof  jacket.  I  detest 
the  fuzzy  feel  of  a  peach  skin,  but  without  it,  I  fear  I 
could  never  have  a  chance  to  enjoy  eating  another  peach. 
At  every  rain  storm,  the  water  would  soak  into  the  peach, 
making  it  decay  and  ruining  its  flavor.  There  are  a 
number  of  leaves  from  which  you  can  peel  the  skin,  as 
fine  and  delicate  as  a  cobweb.  The  tree-trunk  is  pro- 
tected by  its  thick  bark.  All  the  animals  are  protected, 
in  the  same  way,  by  a  coat  of  skin,  which  keeps  out  water 
and  dirt,  and  also  keeps  the  water  in.  As  I  said  before, 
the  body  is  largely  made  up  of  water,  just  as  plants, 
fruits  and  animals  are.  You  know  that  a  peeled  peach 
or  a  piece  of  raw  meat  will  soon  "dry  out,"  because  the 
water  (or,  as  we  say,  "juice")  evaporates.  If  we  were 
"skinned,"  we  should  dry  up,  also. 

As  we  all  know,  the  skin  varies  on  different  parts  of 
our  bodies.  On  the  soles  of  the  feet,  it  is  thick  and  tough. 
On  the  roof  of  the  mouth  it  is  extremely  thin  and  tender. 
On  some  parts  of  the  body,  it  is  very  loose  and  elsewhere 
it  is  tightly  stretched.  On  the  scalp  and  the  ears,  it  lies 

64 


CARE  OP  THE  SKIN  65 

right  over  the  bone  or  gristle,  while  on  most  of  the  body  it 
lies  over  the  muscles. 

If  you  look  at  a  cut  piece  of  skin  under  the  microscope 
—what  scientists  call  a  cross  section  of  skin —  you  will 
see  that  it  is  not  "all  of  a  piece,"  but  is  made  up  of 
two  layers.  The  top  layer,  or  scarf  skin,  is  very  thin. 


SCAHF 


When  the  skin  is  blistered,  this  outer  skin  may  be  easily 
peeled  off.  It  has  110  nerves  nor  blood  vessels,  so  that 
a  needle  can  be  run  under  it  without  its  hurting  or 
bleeding.  Under  a  powerful  microscope,  you  can  see 
that  this  scarf  skin  is  made  of  layers  of  tiny  scales.  It 
is  these  scales,  rubbing  off,  that  often  line  your  stockings 
with  a  white  powder.  Under  the  dry,  outer  scales,  are 
softer  ones  that  are  always  growing  and  crowding  up- 
ward to  take  the  place  of  the  old  scales  that  you  have 
rubbed  off  with  a  towel,  or  with  your  clothing. 


66 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


Under  the  scarf  skin,  lies  the  true  skin.  If  you  cut 
through  the  outer  skin  into  this  real  skin,  it  bleeds  and 
smarts,  for  it  is  full  of  blood  vessels  and  of  nerves  with 
which  we  tell  whether  things  are  hot  or  cold,  hard  or 
soft,  smooth  or  rough.  These  nerves  are  especially  sen- 
sitive on  our  finger  tips.  It  is  much  easier  to  "feel" 
with  your  finger  tips  than  with  other  parts  of  the  body. 

The  skin  is  well  supplied  with 
oil  glands,  for  oil  is  needed  to 
keep  it  soft  and  limber — you  know 
what  happens  to  an  oil-skin  when 
it  gets  old  and  dry.  Oil  is  also 
needed  to  make  the  skin  water- 
proof. We  talk  sometimes  about 
being  "soaked,"  but  the  water 
never  goes  farther  into  our  skin 
than  just  enough  to  soften  the  top 
layers  of  loose  scales.  It  never 
really  gets  into  the  skin  at  all. 
Our  skin  oil  acts  like  the  oil  in  paint  which  protects  out- 
door machinery. 

Besides  the  oil,  our  skin  also  gives  out  perspiration, 
through  the  tiny  holes  called  "pores"  which,  to  the  num- 
ber of  more  than  three  million,  are  dotted  all  over  our 
bodies.  Usually  we  do  not  notice  that  we  are  perspiring 
unless  there  is  so  much  that  it  runs  down  in  drops,  but 
really  we  are  perspiring  all  the  time.  Wipe  your  finger 
tips  as  dry  as  you  can  get  them,  then  press  them  against 
a  clean  mirror,  or  polished  metal.  You  can  see  the 
print  of  every  finger  made  on  the  mirror  by  your  oily  and 


CARE  OF  THE  SKIN  67 

perspiring  skin.  It  is  by  these  almost  invisible  finger 
prints  that  criminals  are  often  discovered. 

The  perspiration  is  mostly  water,  with  quite  a  large 
amount  of  waste  matter  from  the  body.  In  addition  to 
carrying  off  this  waste,  the  perspiration  helps  to  cool 
the  body,  as  it  evaporates.  People  who  perspire  very 
little  in  hot  weather  usually  feel  much  more  uncomfort- 
able than  those  who  are  drenched  in  perspiration.  You 
can  readily  understand  this,  if  you  wet  your  finger  and 
then  dry  it  by  blowing  on  it.  You  will  find  that  it  feels 
much  cooler  than  if  you  blow  on  a  dry  finger. 

Besides  cooling  our  bodies  by  perspiration  in  sum- 
mer, our  skins  help  to  keep  them  warm  in  winter,  because 
the  tiny  blood  vessels  in  the  true  skin  draw  together  and 
become  smaller.  In  this  way,  they  allow  less  blood  to 
get  near  the  surface  where  it  can  be  chilled  by  the  cold  air. 

Now,  since  our  skins  help  us  to  be  warmer  in  winter 
and  cooler  in  summer,  beside  being  a  protecting  covering, 
and  enabling  us  to  "feel"  things,  you  can  see  how  valu- 
able they  are.  What  shall  we  do  to  keep  them  in  good 
working  order? 

The  one,  great  thing  that  we  can  do,  is  to  keep  the 
skin  clean.  The  prettiest  face  in  the  world  is  not  attrac- 
tive if  the  skin  is  dirty,  and  even  a  plain  face  has  a  cer- 
tain charm  if  the  complexion  is  clear  and  smooth.  A 
sallow,  muddy  skin  is  sometimes  due  to  indigestion, 
caused  by  eating  too  much  pastry  and  sweets,  or  to  con- 
stipation, due  to  lack  of  exercise  and  too  little  fruit  and 
coarse  food,  or  to  general  ill  health,  caused  by  bad  air. 
That  is  why  the  doctor  said  ' '  Paint  your  cheeks  from  the 
inside, "  meaning  that  good  health  is  the  only  thing  that 


68 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


will  make  a  good  complexion.  Very  often  a  bad  complex- 
ion is  due  to  nothing  more  nor  less  than  lack  of  bathing. 


CARE  OF  THE  SKIN  69 

Most  people  wash  their  face  and  hands  when  they 
get  up  in  the  morning,  and  a  good  many  wash  them  when 
they  go  to  bed.  I  should  like  to  know  just  how  many 
wash  all  over  every  day.  Nowhere  near  everyone — and 
yet  the  rest  of  the  body  needs  bathing  even  more  than 
the  face  does,  and  since  the  perspiration,  laden  with 
waste,  pours  out  all  day  long  and  every  day,  why  should 
we  think  that  it  needs  to  be  washed  away  only  once  a  week 
or  so?  We  wash  our  dishes  every  day.  We  would  not 
eat  from  soiled  plates — why  should  we  live  in 
soiled  bodies? 

There  are  almost  as  many  different  sorts  of  baths 
and  ways  of  bathing  as  there  are  sorts  of  people,  and  each 
one  must  decide  what  is  best  for  his  own  needs.  The 
Japanese  bathe  in  water  as  hot  as  they  can  stand  it,  and 
they  are  among  the  cleanest  and  healthiest  people  in  the 
world.  Some  people  like  a  tepid  bath,  neither  hot  nor 
cold.  I  remember  seeing  a  little  Hungarian  baby — the 
son  of  a  nobleman — who  was  dipped  every  morning  into 
a  tub  with  a  big  cake  of  ice  in  it ! 

"The  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating"  and  the 
proof  of  a  healthful  bath  is  how  it  makes  you  feel  after- 
ward. If  a  cold  bath  makes  you  feel  shivery  and  uncom- 
fortable for  some  time  afterward,  it  evidently  does  not 
agree  with  you.  If  a  hot  bath  at  night  keeps  you  awake — 
as  it  does  with  some  few  people — then  you  cannot  follow 
the  usual  rule  of  cold  baths  in  the  morning  and  warm 
baths  at  night. 

Hot  or  warm  baths  are  needed  to  give  the  skin  a 
thorough  cleansing,  while  cold  or  cool  baths,  though  less 
cleansing,  brace  one  up  and  "harden"  one  so  that  he  is 
less  liable  to  take  cold. 


70  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

If  you  are  in  good  health,  a  cool  shower,  or  plunge, 
or  even  a  rub  with  a  towel  wet  in  cold  water,  will  freshen 
you  up  wonderfully  and  make  you  feel  ready  for  the 
day's  work. 

When  I  was  younger,  I  used  to  plunge  every  morning 
into  a  tub  of  cold  water.  I  never  learned  not  to  shriek 
when  I  struck  the  water,  but  afterward  I  felt  fine.  As 
I  grew  older,  however,  I  found  that  this  cold  plunge  did 
not  agree  so  well  with  me.  Nowadays,  after  a  good  soap- 
ing, I  stand  under  a  shower  of  very  warm  water  and  turn 
on  the  cold  water  gradually,  until  the  shower  is  quite 
cool.  This  cleans  the  skin  thoroughly,  leaves  me  feeling 
fine  and  does  not  disturb  the  neighbors  by  making 
me  scream! 

But  if  you  are  one  of  the  fortunate  ones  who  can  take 
a  cold  bath  every  morning,  you  should  provide  for  clean- 
sing your  skin  by  taking  a  warm  soapy  bath  at  least  twice 
a  week,  for  the  oil  from  the  skin  makes  a  greasy  film  that 
is  not  washed  away  by  cold  water. 

Another  excellent  way  to  train  your  skin  so  that  you 
will  not  take  cold  easily  is  by  taking  an  air  bath  in 
the  morning.  You  can  do  this  by  doing  your  morning 
exercises  after  your  bath  and  before  you  put  on  your 
clothes.  This  exposure  to  light  and  air  is  so  good  for  the 
health  that  children  who  have  tuberculosis  are  often  sent 
to  sanitariums,  where  they  run  about  outdoors  with  al- 
most no  clothing. 

Is  is  especially  important  for  us  all  to  form  habits 
of  cleanliness,  for  we  never  know  how  really  dangerous 
unclean  habits  may  become.  In  many  work  rooms  and 
factories,  the  workers  have  to  handle  arsenic,  lead  and 


CARE  OF  THE  SKIN  71 

other  poisons.  Many,  many  such  workers  have  died  or 
lost  their  health  simply  because  they  had  never  formed 
the  habit  of  always  washing  hands  and  face  before  eating. 
The  habit  of  keeping  clean  is  important  for  us  all, 
but  for  some  of  us,  it  is  going  to  mean  the  difference  be- 
tween life  and  death. 

CARE  OF  THE  SKIN 

Go  outdoors  and  list  everything  you  see  which  is  varnished,  painted  or 
whitewashed.  Come  inside  the  house  and  do  likewise.  Why  this  treatment? 
(If  you  cannot  answer  this  question,  perhaps  the  science  teacher  in  your 
school  will  help  you.) 

Let  a  peeled  and  an  unpeeled  apple  lie  in  the  window  for  a  week  and 
decide  upon  the  use  of  the  skin.  Does  your  body  need  protection  for  any 
of  these  reasons? 

Why  is  it  that  your  skin  is  of  different  thickness,  and  stretched  to 
different  degrees  of  tightness,  while  the  skin  of  the  apple  or  potato  is 
pretty  even? 

What  can  you  tell  about  the  way  your  skin  is  made,  and  how  it  is 
nourished  so  that  it  can  grow? 

Make  a  list  of  the  facts  you  can  discover  about  something  or  other 
by  running  the  tips  of  your  fingers  over  it  with  eyes  closed.  Explain 
why  you  can  do  this.  How  useful  a  power  is  this  ? 

What  prevents  the  cracking  and  drying  up  of  your  skin?  Why  are 
pure  cold  creams  sometimes  useful  in  winter?  Find  out  the  proper  way 
to  use  cold  cream. 

Try  to  plan  some  experiment  to  show  that  water  evaporated  from  a 
surface,  cools  that  surface.  Show  why  we  must  perspire  in  summer 
to  be  comfortable. 

What  would  happen  if  the  mouths  of  the  oil  glands  and  pores  were 
closed  up.  How  could  they  get  closed?  How  may  we  keep  them  open? 

What  are  advantages  of  cold  baths?  Of  warm,  soapy  ones?  How  will 
you  determine  what  kinds  of  baths  are  best  for  you? 

Make  a  program  for  keeping  the  skin  surface  clean,  rosy  and  soft. 
Explain  each  step  and  the  use  of  all  the  articles  you  wish  to  use.  Try  this 
program  on  yourself  for  a  month  and  criticize  its  results. 

Is  cleanliness  ever  a  safety  measure?     Just  why? 

Collect  some  advertisements  of  various  soaps,  creams.  From  your  study, 
what  good  results  do  you  expect  from  soaps?  What  are  the  requirements 
for  a  good  soap?  Do  you  think  "fancy"  soaps  are  necessary  for 


72  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

these?  Explain  your  opinion.  Ask  a  druggist  what  goes  into  a  pure  cold 
cream?  What  could  such  a  cream  do  for  your  skin?  Do  you  think  fancy 
and  expensive  ones  can  do  more  ? 

If  you  cover  pores  with  "lotions"  or  pastes,  or  powders,  what  will  be 
the  probable  effects?  Is  this  a  cleanly  habit? 

Write  what  you  think  is  the  most  certain  prescription  for  a  good 
complexion.  Try  it  for  as  long  as  you  can,  or  until  you  get  results  from  it. 

What  is  the  business  and  social  value  of  a  naturally  fine  complexion? 


CARE  OF  HAIR 

WHILE  the  skin  is  a  great  protection  to  the  body,  the 
most  sensitive  parts  of  our  bodies  are  still  further  guarded. 
The  entrance  to  ears  and  nose  is  guarded  by  fine  hairs,  to 
keep  dust  and  insects  out.  Our  eyelids  are  fringed  with 
hairs  and  further  protected  with  eyebrows,  to  catch  dust, 
grit  and  perspiration  that  might  otherwise  get  into  our 
eyes.  The  most  sensitive  part  of  all,  our  brain,  is  pro- 
tected not  only  by  the  thick  bone  of  the  skull,  but  by  a 
mat  of  hair.  The  hair  warms  the  head  in  winter, 
guards  it  from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  in  summer  and 
protects  it  from  injury  by  accident  or  attack. 

I  had  a  friend  who  lost  almost  all  her  hair  from  ty- 
phoid fever,  and  had  to  have  her  head  shaved.  It  made 
her  head  so  cold  that  she  wore  a  little  cap.  We  scarcely 
realize  how  much  protection  the  hair  gives  until  we  lose 
it.  My  sister  was  once  thrown  violently  from  her  bicy- 
cle and  struck  the  back  of  her  head.  The  blow  made 
her  unconscious  and  the  doctor  said  would  have  fractured 
her  skull  if  it  had  not  been  for  her  knot  of  unusually 
heavy  hair. 

Like  our  other  body-tools,  we  are  apt  to  take  our 
hair  as  a  matter  of  course,  not  realizing  its  value  and 
giving  it  very  little  care.  Perhaps  this  is  partly  because 
we  have  never  thought  or  known  very  much  about  hair 
and  the  part  it  has  always  played  in  human  life.  And 
yet  abundant  hair  has  always  been  a  mark  of  beauty 
and  strength.  Ever  since  the  days  when  the  prophet 
Elisha's  bald  head  was  jeered  at  by  the  street  urchins  of 
Palestine,  baldness  has  been  unpopular. 

73 


74 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


The  Indian's  scalp  lock  and  the  Chinaman's  queue 
are  marks  of  dignity  and  all  history  is  full  of  long-haired 
heroes,  from  the  days  of  Samson  down.  I  have  read 
that  when  an  Arab  wishes  to  deny  anything  very 
strongly,  he  will  say,  "If  I  have  done  it,  then  may  the 
Lord  turn  my  locks  into  a  bald  head!" 

So  much  in  love  were  our 
ancestors  with  the  idea  of  having 
a  decorative  head  of  hair,  that 
wigs  were  very  fashionable,  even 
among  those  who  had  plenty  of 
hair  of  their  own.  In  the  British 
Museum  is  the  wig  of  a  mummy 
over  three  thousand  years  old. 
Queen  Elizabeth  is  said  to  have 
had  eighty  different  wigs  and  in 
our  own  New  England  the  famous 
preacher,  Increase  Mather,  preached  against  the  wearing 
of  wigs,  calling  them  ' i  horrid  bushes  of  vanity. ' ' 

Nowadays,  it  is  considered  a  misfortune  to  wear  a 
wig.  How,  then,  shall  we  keep  our  hair  in  good  condition? 
The  hair  is  really  very  like  the  skin  in  its  structure. 
It  has  an  inner  pith,  then  a  fibrous  part,  and  outside  of 
all  a  series  of  overlapping  scales  and  it  is  oiled  just 
as  the  skin  is. 

It  grows  in  a  little  pit  in  the  skin  called  a  follicle — 

which  means  a  "little  bag," — and  we  have  from  twenty 

thousand  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  these  hair 

follicles,  according  to  whether  we  have  little  or  much  hair. 

Like  the  skin,  of  which  it  is  really  a  part,  the  hair 


CARE  OF  HAIR 


75 


needs  proper  nourishment  and  cleanliness.     By  nourish- 
ment, I  mean  that  unless  our  general  health  is  good,  the 


mmjjjm^jmjm^^mjjjiK      y 

r>"*~-  ^-^ 


1 


hair  is  likely  to  be  thin  and  dry.     If  you  compare  a  gutter 
cat  with  a  pet  one,  you  will  see  how  coarse,  dry  and  poor 


76  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

the  tramp's  fur  is,  and  how  thick,  glossy  and  fine  is  the 
fur  of  the  pet.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  our  hair.  If 
we  are  not  well,  the  blood  supply  which  feeds  the  hair 
is  poor  and  the  hair  suffers  or  falls  out. 

As  to  cleaning  the  hair  and  scalp,  the  hair  should 
be  brushed  well,  night  and  morning,  to  free  it  from  dust 
and  to  brush  out  the  mixture  of  oil  and  skin-scales  that 
we  call  dandruff.  Brushing  also  brings  the  blood  to  the 
scalp  and  so  keeps  it  healthy. 

How  often  you  should  wash  your  hair  depends  entirely 
on  how  dirty  it  gets.  Some  hair  is  naturally  very  much 
more  oily  than  others.  Such  hair  catches  and  holds  dust 
much  more  readily  than  fluffy,  dry  hair,  and  therefore 
needs  more  washing.  A  boy  who  has  oily  hair  should 
wash  it  every  day.  A  girl  can  scarcely  do  that,  but  she 
may  wash  it  every  week  or  two. 

Another  point  to  consider  is  whether  you  live  or 
work  in  a  very  dusty  place.  If  so,  your  hair  will  need 
frequent  shampooing.  Each  one  must  make  her  own 
rule,  but  don't  be  afraid  of  washing  your  hair  too 
often.  Hair  is  much  more  likely  to  be  spoiled  by  not 
being  washed  enough. 

All  that  is  necessary  to  give  your  head  a  good  sham- 
poo at  home  is  plenty  of  warm  water,  good,  pure  soap, 
and  soft  towels,  with  a  nail  brush,  if  possible.  The  soap 
should  not  be  rubbed  on  the  hair,  but  made  into  a  lather 
with  the  hands  or  brush  and  then  scrubbed  into  the  scalp. 
Keep  on  washing  the  hair  until  the  soapy  water  squeezes 
out  of  it  perfectly  clean.  Then  rinse  it  in  plenty  of 
warm  water  and  keep  on  rinsing  until  the  water  shows 
no  trace  of  soapiness.  Then  pour  a  little  cold  water  on, 


CARE  OF  HAIR  77 

to  close  the  pores  and  keep  you  from  catching  cold.  Fin- 
ally rub  as  dry  as  you  can  with  soft  towels  and  finish 
drying  in  the  sun  or  over  a  radiator.  Don't  ever  dry 
hair  over  a  name  or  before  an  open  fire,  as  it  is  very 
likely  to  catch  fire  and  burns  instantly.  After  washing, 
brush  the  hair  well. 


Before  washing  your  hair,  always  be  sure  that  your 
brush  and  comb  are  perfectly  clean,  so  that  you  shall  not 
comb  clean  hair  with  dirty  tools.  The  best  way  is  to 
dip  the  comb  and  bristles  (not  back)  of  the  brush  into 
hot  water  containing  a  little  ammonia.  This  dissolves 
the  greasy  dirt  and  the  brush  will  quickly  dry  in 
the  sunshine. 

It  should  not  be  necessary  to  warn  anyone  against 
trying  on  other  people's  hats,  or  laying  his  or  her  own 
hat  in  any  dirty  place.  Such  habits  may  result  in  your 
catching  your  neighbor's  scalp  disease,  or  in  your  head 
becoming  infested  with  vermin. 

If  you  are  so  unlucky  as  to  become  infested  in  this  way, 
the  best  cure  is  tincture  of  larkspur,  which  can  be  bought 
of  any  druggist.  Wet  the  scalp  well  with  this  at  night 


78 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


and  tie  the  head  up  in  a  towel.  Keep  this  up  until  there 
is  no  sign  of  the  trouble  left.  If  there  are  nits — tiny 
white  eggs  fastened  to  the  hairs — they  can  be  dissolved 
off  by  washing  the  hair  in  hot  vinegar.  But  remember 
that  larkspur  is  poison  and  must  never  be  left  on  your 
fingers  or  allowed  to  stand  where  anyone,  especially 
children  and  pets,  can  get  at  it. 

Another  valuable  tool  that  is  really  only  a  form  of 
altered  skin,  is  the  finger-nails.  In  the  nails,  the  scales 
of  the  skin  have  thickened  and  become  horny. 


I  suppose  that  our  savage  ancestors  found  nails  use- 
ful as  a  fighting  weapon,  but  with  us,  they  serve  to 
protect  the  finger-ends  and  are  also  most  useful  in  pick- 
ing up  and  handling  small  objects.  We  do  not  generally 
think  of  them  as  a  special  ornament — at  least  we  do  not 
let  them  grow  to  enormous  lengths  and  protect  them  with 
golden  and  jeweled  shields,  as  the  Chinese  do. 

And  yet  shapely,  well  cared  for  nails  are  a  real  orna- 
ment and  without  them  no  hand  looks  attractive.  In 


CARE  OF  HAIR  79 

fact,  a  set  of  dirty  nails  is  a  sign  that  its  owner  is  slov- 
enly and  unrefined.  No  worker  can  afford  to  carry  such 
a  "don't  hire  me"  sign. 

All  that  is  necessary  to  have  good  nails  is  to  scrub 
them  whenever  you  wash  your  hands,  with  a  nail  scrub, 
warm  water  and  soap,  and  then  clean  them  with  an  orange- 
wood  stick  or  small  wooden  tooth  pick.  The  nails 
should  be  trimmed  often,  for  it  looks  better  and  they  are 
much  more  easily  cleaned. 

The  flesh  around  the  base  of  the  nails  should  be  gently 
pushed  back,  after  washing  the  hands  and  while  the 
damp  skin  is  soft,  If  this  is  neglected,  the  skin  is 
likely  to  tear  and  form  "hang-nails,"  which  are  painful 
and  are  also  good  places  for  dirt  and  germs  to  enter. 

Boys  and  girls  do  not  realize  that  the  average  em- 
ployer looks  not  at  the  new  dress  or  the  stylish  overcoat, 
but  at  the  hair  and  nails,  when  he  is  picking  out  an  em- 
ployee. The  girl  whose  hair  is  frowsy,  or  done  in  an 
extreme  style,  and  the  boy  whose  nails  are  "in  mourning" 
may  never  know  why  they  were  not  chosen,  but  the 
chances  are  against  them,  all  the  same. 

HAIR 

Before  you  can  care  for  your  hair  intelligently,  you  must,  of  course, 
understand  it.  Put  into  simple,  exact,  statements,  the  facts  about  what 
a  hair  is,  and  how  it  grows.  Use  your  facts  to  explain  the  following: — 

How  does  the  hair  get  oily  again,  after  it  has  been  washed? 

Where  does  hair  get  the  food  it  needs  to  grow?  From  which  end  does 
it  grow?  Why  doesn't  it  hurt  to  cut  hair? 

Why  does  every  "hair-tonic"  require  you  to  rub  it  in?  What  keeps 
your  hair — the  "tonic"  or  the  rub? 

What  is  dandruff?  Why  is  it  relieved  by  daily  brushing  and  enough 
shampooing? 

Shampoo  your  hair  yourself  according  to  the  directions  in  the  text. 


80  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

Make  a  brief  statement  of  why  each  step  was  taken.  Explain  what  you  need 
to  do  to  keep  comb  and  brush  in  first-class  condition. 

Why  are  there  no  public  combs  and  brushes  in  Pullman  cars?  Is  it 
neighborly  to  lend,  our  own  combs  and  brushes  to  travelers,  if  we  are  asked  ? 

It  may  be  necessary  sometime  to  know  how  to  rid  hair  of  vermin. 
Make  a  brief  and  accurate  statement  of  how  to  proceed.  Make  a  statement 
of  how  to  avoid  vermin  in  the  hair. 

If  you  were  packing  your  suit-case  to  go  on  a  trip,  what  articles  must 
you  take  to  keep  your  nails  in  good  condition  ?  How  would  you  use 
these  articles?  How  often? 

What  is  the  business  value  of  well-cared  for  hair  and  clean  nails?  The 
health  value?  The  "beauty"  value? 


HOW  WE  BREATHE 

WE  have  spoken  of  every  living  thing  as  needing  food 
and  water,  but  equally  necessary  is  air,  and  the  appara- 
tus with  which  we  breathe  is  a  most  important  part  of 
our  machinery. 

As  you  know,  the  nose  is  lined  with  moist  pink  skin, 
or  membrane,  provided  with  tiny  hairs.  The  moisture 
is  to  catch  any  dust  or  germs,  and  to  moisten  the  incom- 


ing'air.     The  hairs  also  help  in  catching  any  dust  or 
tiny    insects,     or    anything     else     that    might    injure 
the  nostrils. 

If  you  could  look  at  the  inside  of  your  nose,  you 
would  see  that,  back  of  the  "bridge,"  the  nostrils  join 
to  form  a  passage  that,  lower  down,  forms  the  throat. 
This  connection  between  the  nose  and  throat  is  brought 
to  our  attention  when  liquid  snuffed  up  the  nose  runs 

81 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


LUNGS 


down  into  tn#  throat,  and  sometimes  when  the  gas  from 
soda  water  "fizzes"  up  from  the  throat  into  the  nose. 

The  throat,  as  we  have  seen,  has,  leading  from  it,  a 
tube  that  carries  the  food  into  the  stomach.  It  has  a 
second  tube,  called  the  trachea,  or  wind-pipe,  dividing 
into  two  branches,  through  which  the  air  passes  down 
into  our  lungs.  These  two  branches  are  called  the  bron- 
chi, and  when  they  are  in  bad 
condition,  partly  choked  with 
mucus,  we  have  "bronchitis." 
The  lungs  themselves  are 
spongy,  full  of  tiny  holes 
which  fill  with  air,  much 
as  a  sponge  fills  with  water. 
They  are  pinkish  in  color, 
from  a  fine  network  of  tiny 
blood-vessels  which  run  all 
through  them. 
Now  air  is  composed  of  several  gases,  one  of  which  is 
oxygen.  This  oxygen  is  absorbed  by  the  tiny  blood  ves- 
sels and  carried  in  the  blood  all  over  the  body,  to  keep 
the  body-fires  burning;  for  the  body  needs  oxygen,  just 
as  any  flame  needs  it.  You  know  that  a  lamp  will  not 
burn  unless  space  is  left  for  air  to  get  to  it  and  that'you 
cannot  kindle  a  fire  unless  there  are  air  spaces  between 
the  sticks  of  wood.  I  remember  once  seeing  a  great  pile 
of  paper  which  had  gone  through  a  fire  with  only  the 
edges  singed.  The  rest  of  the  paper  could  not  burn 
because  the  sheets  lay  packed  one  on  top  of  the  other, 
with  no  air  between. 

Of  course  there  is  no  flame  in  your  body,  and  yet  the 


HOW  WE  BREATHE  83 

process  that  goes  on  in  it  is  really  a.  slow  burning,  and 
the  air  makes  this  burning  possible. 

When  the  needed  oxygen  has  passed  from  the  air 
into  the  blood  vessels  of  the  lungs,  the  "waste  air"  goes 
back,  up  th£  wind-pipe  and  out  the  nostrils.  Then  an- 
other breath  of  fresh  air  is  taken  in,  and  so  we  keep  on 
night  and  day,  all  our  lives. 

Luckily  for  us,  our 
breathing  takes  care  of 
itself  and  we  do  not  have 
to  remember  to  breathe. 
Our  ribs  pull  apart  and 
spread,  so  that  the  lungs  |  UNG5 
have  room  to  swell  out. 
Then  the  air  rushes  in  and 
fills  them.  It  is  very  much 
like  what  happens  if  you 
hold  a  sponge  under  water 
in  your  closed  fist,  the 

sponge  being  your  lungs,  the  water  the  air,  and 
your  fist  the  ribs.  So  long  as  your  fist  presses  on 
the  sponge,  it  cannot  fill,  but  the  moment  you  relax 
your  grip,  the  water  rushes  into  the  holes  in  the 
sponge  and  it  swells  out.  Wheny  our  fist  again  closes  round 
the  sponge,  the  water  is  forced  out.  Just  so,  the  air 
keeps  rushing  into  your  lungs  and  being  forced  out  again. 

Since  breathing,  like  digestion,  is  a  matter  that  we 
can  do  but  little  to  control,  many  people  never  think  of 
taking  care  of  their  breathing  apparatus.  And  yet  these 
breathing  tools  of  ours  are  especially  likely  to  get  out 
of  order,  and  especially  painful  when  they  do, 


84  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

Later  on  we  shall  have  something  to  say  about  pro- 
viding ourselves  with  good  air,  but  first  let  us  think  about 
getting  our  tools  themselves  into  good  shape,  so  that 
they  can  use  the  air. 

Of  course  it  is  plain  that  anything  that  stops  up  the 
air  route,  in  any  of  its  parts,  is  a  very  serious  matter. 
Once  in  a  while,  we  hear  of  someone  who  suffocates  be- 
cause a  piece  of  food,  or  a  button,  or  coin  perhaps,  has 

gotten  into  his  wind- 
pipe and  has  stuck 
there,  preventing  the 
entrance  of  air. 

A  much  more  com- 
mon happening  is  a 
stoppage,  not  in  the 
wind-pipe,  which 
causes  death  almost  at  once,  but  in  the  passage  back  of 
the  nose,  just  above  the  throat,  which  causes  much  trouble. 
Adenoids  are  spongy  masses  that  grow  in  this  passage 
and  so  block  it  and  force  their  unfortunate  owner  to 
breathe  through  the  mouth.  This  means  that  the  air, 
instead  of  going  through  the  damp  hairy  nose,  where 
it  is  made  moist  and  is  cleaned,  passes  directly  into  the 
throat.  The  throat  becomes  dry  and  often  sore.  Ade- 
noids also  often  cause  earache  and  deafness.  The  nose, 
not  being  " aired,"  becomes  unhealthy  and  catarrh  de- 
velops. There  are  a  great  many  ways  in  which  adenoids 
can  upset  one's  entire  body  and  ruin  one's  happiness 
and  work. 

To  have  adenoids  taken  out  is  a  simple  matter.  Any 
good  doctor  can  do  it,  and  no  one  should  try  to  struggle 


HOW  WE  BREATHE 


85 


on  with  adenoids.     It  is  as  great  a  waste  of  time  and 
strength  as  it  would  be  to  try  to  sew  with  a  broken  needle. 

But  even  if  we  have  no  adenoids,  and  our  passage 
to  the  lungs  is  clear  and  open,  of  what  use  is  it  if  the 
lungs  themselves  cannot  fill  freely  with  air? 

Just  as  a  sponge  cannot  fill  with  water  so  long  as 
your  hand  is  partly  closed 
around  it,  so  your  lungs  can- 
not completely  fill  with  air  if 
your  ribs  hold  them  in  a 
tight  cage.  This  is  why 
tight  clothing  about  the  waist 
is  not  merely  uncomfortable 
but  very  unhealthful.  When 
I  was  a  girl,  it  was  the  fash- 
ion for  girls  and  women  to 
have  small  waists  and  many 
a  girl  prided  herself  on 
her  tiny  waist  and  endured 
tortures  from  tight  lacing 
rather  than  have  a  natural 
figure.  Nowadays  it  is  no 
longer  fashionable  to  have  a  "wasp"  waist,  so  women >s 
ribs  are  almost  as  free  as  men's  and  they  can  breathe 
with  the  lower  part  of  the  lungs,  not  merely  with  the 
narrow  upper  tips. 

This  habit  of  "deep"  breathing,  using  and  filling 
with  air  the  entire  lung  space,  is  an  excellent  one.  I 
used  to  know  a  boy  several  of  whose  family  had  died  of 
tuberculosis.  He  was  a  slender  frail-looking,  hollow- 
chested  lad,  and  had  quite  given  up  to  the  idea  that  he 


86  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

also  was  to  die  of  the  disease  that  had  killed  his  sister 
and  brothers.  A  wise  doctor  advised  him  as  to  better 
ways  of  living  and  among  other  things,  urged  him  to 
take  twenty  long  breaths  before  an  open  window  every 
morning  and  night  and  as  many  times  during  the  day  as 
he  could.  He  tried  it,  standing  erect  and  taking  long, 
deep  breaths  and  inside  six  months  his  chest  had  filled 
out,  his  color  was  better  and  he  laughed  at  the  idea  of 
having  tuberculosis.  Now  he  is  as 
strong  as  any  boy  I  know. 

There  are  some  forms  of  work 
that  are  especially  hard  on  the 
throat  and  lungs  and  which  I 
should  not  advise  you  to  take  up  if 
your  throat  and  lungs  are  at  all  in- 
clined to  be  weak.  I  suppose  any 
girl  who  has  ever  swept  a  room 
knows  how  disagreeable  it  is  to  get 
one's  throat  full  of  dust.  A  girl 
that  I  know  always  ties  a  damp  cloth  across  her  nose 
and  throat  when  she  sweeps,  to  strain  the  dust  out  of  the 
air  and  to  keep  from  breathing  it. 

The  " dusty"  trades,  such  as  stone  cutting,  grinding 
and  polishing  metal,  china  and  pottery  making,  wood- 
sawing,  and  others  which  fill  the  air  with  fine  dust  are 
very  hard  on  throat  and  lungs.  Often  the  machines  are 
equipped  with  some  device  that  sucks  the  dust  in  and 
so  keeps  the  air  clear.  In  many  states,  employers  in 
these  trades  are  obliged  to  supply  masks,  or  "respira- 
tors, ' '  which  protect  the  worker  by  straining  the  dusty  air. 
Employers  have  told  me  that  very  often  the  workers 


HOW  WE  BREATHE  87 

are  not  willing  to  wear  the  masks.  They  say  that  it 
bothers  them  at  their  work,  and  some  of  the  women  ob- 
ject because  the  mask  is  not  becoming.  This  would 
really  be  very  funny,  if  it  were  not  that  so  many  workers 
pay  for  their  folly  by  weakened  and  injured  throats,  and 
even  by  actual  illness.  It  really  does  seem  as  though, 
if  someone  else  pays  to  protect  us,  we  might  at  least  do 
our  part  by  protecting  ourselves. 

HOW  WE  BREATHE 

Get  a  hand-mirror  and  find  for  yourself  all  the  devices  in  your  nose  which 
purify  the  air  that  goes  through  it  to  the  lungs.  Are  there  similar  devices 
in  the  mouth?  Try  breathing  for  two  minutes  through  the  mouth.  Why 
must  you  breathe  through  the  nose  ? 

Try  to  make  a  picture  or  diagram  which  will  show  the  path  of  the  air 
from  the  outside  to  the  lungs. 

Plan  some  experiments  to  show  that  air  is  necessary  to  a  fire.  Can  you 
find  out  what  there  is  in  air  that  makes  it  so  necessary?  Find  out  what 
"oxidation"  means?  Then  show  how  the  body  fires  are  like  other  fires  and 
how  they  are  different. 

Bring  to  school  materials  for  showing  how  the  lungs  fill  with  air.  While 
you  demonstrate  your  experiment,  point  out  in  your  own  breathing,  how 
it  is  like  the  experiment,  and  how  different. 

By  what  means  can  you  keep  each  part  of  your  lungs  active  and 
well-nourished?  Will  tuberculosis  germs  have  much  chance  to  grow  in 
such  lungs?  What  are  your  reasons? 

What  games  favor  well-developed  breathing  ? 

What  obstacle  is  there,  to  good  breathing  through  the  nose  ?  If  you  had 
such  an  obstacle,  what  would  you  do  about  it? 

Name  some  "dusty"  trades.  Name  some  ''sedentary"  trades.  (Find 
out  what  the  word  means.) 

If  you  have  to  work  at  one  of  these,  what  can  you  do  to  overcome  its 
disadvantages  to  health? 


THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE 


CONSIDEKING  that  air  is  literally  the  "breath  of  life" 
to  all  of  us,  and  that  we  are  surrounded  by  it  every 
moment  of  our  lives,  it  is  rather  odd  that  most  people 
know  so  little  about  it  and  have  such  wrong  notions  as 
to  "good"  and  "bad"  air. 

Of  course,  as  we  said  in  the  last  chapter,  air  is  not 
wholesome  if  it  is  filled  with  dust,  or  with  particles  of 
stone,  metal,  wood,  lint,  etc.  Neither 
should  it  be  laden  with  smoke  or 
gases,  such  as  certain  chemicals  pro- 
duce. During  the  war,  we  heard 
a  great  deal  about  soldiers  being 
"gassed"  and  many  men  had  their 
throats  and  lungs  seriously  and 
lastingly  injured  by  such  poison  gas. 

In  factories,  the  law  does  not 
permit  any  process  that  would 
make  the  air  actually  poisonous,  but  the  air  around 
a  factory  that  uses  acids  and  other  chemicals  is  often 
full  of  ill-smelling  and  unpleasant  gases  that  make 
a  sensitive  throat  sore.  I  have  read  that  concert  singers 
often  complain  at  having  to  sing  in  certain  cities,  because 
the  air  hurts  their  throats. 

Country  air  is,  as  everyone  knows,  less  dusty  and 
smoky  and  much  sweeter  smelling  than  city  air,  for  there 
are  no  factories  and  chimneys  to  soil  the  air  and  plenty 
of  wide  spaces  across  which  the  wind  can  sweep,  instead 
of  narrow  streets  where  the  air  lies  stagnant, 

88 


THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE  89 

But  the  air  in  country  houses  is  usually  no  sweeter 
or  more  pleasant  than  in  city  ones.  Indeed,  I  have  been  in 
country  homes  where  the  shut-up  parlor  was  so  " stuffy" 
that  it  gave  me  a  headache.  If  air  is  clean,  free  from 
dirt,  unpleasant  gases  and  dust,  what  else  is  needed? 

To  answer  this  question,  we  must  understand  that  air 
affects  the  skin  quite  as  much  as  it  does  the  lungs.  Dusty 
air  is  bad  for  the  throat  and  lungs,  but  it  is  equally  im- 
portant that  air  should  be  of  the  right  temperature  and 
should  .be  moist  enough.  To  make  this  clear,  we  must 
consider  the  question  of  body  heat. 

If  you  have  ever  had  a  fever,  you  know  the  dreadful, 
"burning  up"  feeling  that  it  gives  you  and  perhaps  you 
were  surprised  to  be  told  that  you  were  really  only  one 
or  two  degrees  warmer  than  usual.  The  fact  is  that 
during  a  fever,  the  blood  comes  to  the  surface  and  makes 
the  skin  feel  hot  and  dry,  but  the  general  temperature 
of  the  body  rises  only  a  few  degrees.  When  we  are  well, 
a  thermometer  placed  in  the  mouth  registers  a  little 
above  ninety-eight  degrees,  and  a  rise  of  even  a  few  de- 
grees above  this  body  temperature  means  that  we  are 
seriously  ill  and  have  a  high  fever. 

Now  how  is  it  that  our  bodies  keep  at  about  ninety- 
eight  degrees  even  in  Egypt,  where  the  air  may  be  as 
hot  as  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  degrees  and  in  the 
Arctic  regions,  where  the  thermometer  falls  to 
fifty  degrees? 

If,  as  in  winter,  we  are  surrounded  by  cold  air,  the 
tiny  blood  vessels  in  the  skin  contract,  so  that  less  blood 
shall  come  to  the  surface  and  be  cooled.  In  summer,  they 
relax,  so  that  the  blood  may  flow  freely  through  the  skin 
and  be  cooled  as  quickly  as  possible,  The  perspiration,  too, 


90 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


as  we  have  seen,  plays  its  part  in  cooling  the  body,  by 
evaporation.  In  winter  we  aid  the  process  by  wearing 
layers  of  thick  clothing,  which  hold  a  layer  of  air  about 
us  that  has  been  warmed  by  the  body.  In  summer, 
on  the  contrary,  we  wear  as  few  clothes  as  possible  and 

try  to  find  a  breezy  spot 
where  the  layer  of  air 
warmed  by  pur  bodies 
will  be  continually 
blown  away  and  a  fresh, 
unwarmed  layer  take  its 
place. 

Outdoor  tempera- 
tures, however,  we  can- 
not alter,  and  to  them 
we  merely  adjust  our- 
selves. In  our  houses, 
we  can  regulate  the 
heat. 

It  might  be  sup- 
posed, since  ninety-eight  degrees  is  the  natural  heat 
of  the  body  that  air  heated  to  ninety-eight  degrees 
would  be  the  most  comfortable,  whereas  we  all 
know  from  experience  that  when  the  thermometer  regis- 
ters ninety-eight  degrees  we  are  all  panting  with  the  heat. 
The  temperature  that  suits  pretty  much  everyone  best 
is  between  sixty-two  degrees  and  seventy  degrees.  At 
this  heat,  we  do  not  get  blue  and  shivery,  nor  do  we 
perspire  greatly. 

I  know  a  family  where  the  grandmother  always  insists 
on  having  the  sitting-room  heated  to  eighty  degrees.    The 


THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE  91 

result  is  that  her  grandchildren  have  a  series  of  colds 
all  winter  long.  The  overheated  air  indoors  keeps  their 
skin-pores  open  and  the  perspiration  flowing.  When  they 
go  out,  the  perspiration  evaporates  and  makes  them  feel 
chilly  and  uncomfortable.  Then  too,  in  a  very  warm  room, 
the  blood  comes  close  to  the  skin,  so  when  one  goes  out  into 
the  cold,  the  blood  is  suddenly  chilled  and  one  "feels  the 
cold,"  as  we  say. 

Another  danger  in  connection  with  over-heated  in- 
door air  is  that  it  is  usually  very  dry. 

You  often  hear  people  complain,  on  a  "muggy"  day, 
of  the  "humidity,"  which  is  only  a  long  way  of  saying 
dampness.  And  if  you  have  ever  been  out  on  the  desert 
plains  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  you  have  suffered 
from  the  extreme  dryness  of  the  air.  I  remember  that 
on  a  journey  across  those  plains,  my  skin  felt  as  if  it 
were  drying  up,  and  the  skin  on  my  lips  actually  did 
dry  and  crack. 

Now,  as  we  all  know,  the  air  always  holds  more  or 
less  water.  You  have  often  seen  the  sun  "drawing 
water"  into  the  air,  and  watched  the  steam  from  the  tea- 
kettle disappear  into  the  air  of  the  room. 

On  a  warm  day,  if  there  is  a  great  deal  of  water  in 
the  air,  the  air,  naturally,  does  not  dry  up  our  perspira- 
tion so  quickly  and  we  miss  the  coolness  that  comes  from 
evaporation.  On  such  a  day  the  air  is  like  that  of  a  hot- 
house, warm  and  soaked  with  moisture.  On  a  dry-air 
day,  the  thermometer  may  stand  much  higher  and  yet,  as 
we  perspire  freely  and  the  perspiration  quickly  evapo- 
rates, we  do  not  feel  the  heat  so  much. 

The  danger,  indoors,  is  usually  that  of  having  the 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE  93 

air  too  warm  and  too  dry.  If,  in  a  room  at  68°,  you  feel 
chilly,  the  air  is  probably  too  dry,  which  means  that  the 
moisture  from  your  skin  is  evaporating  too  quickly  and 
thus  cooling  your  skin  and  giving  you  a  chilly  feeling. 
The  remedy  for  this  is  not  to  make  the  room  air  hotter, 
but  to  make  it  moister  by  boiling  water,  by  putting  dishes 
of  water  or  wet  cloths  on  the  radiators,  or  by  having 
growing  plants  in  the  room.  Plants  give  out  water  from 
their  leaves  and 
from  the  wet  earth. 
Of  course,  the  air 

must  not  become  so   . M 

damp  that  the  per- . —  U 
spiration   will   not         ||] 
evaporate, 
one    third    to    one 
half    is    the    right, 
amount    of    mois- 
ture    in    the     air, 
depending    on    its 
warmth. 

In  work-rooms, 


About 


where  a  large  number  of  people  are  often  working 
all  day,  it  is  very  important  for  everyone's  comfort 
that  the  air  should  be  free  from  dust  and  smells, 
comfortably  warm,  sufficiently  moist,  and  kept  in  mo- 
tion. If  those  near  the  windows  complain  of  a  draught, 
a  good  plan  is  to  close  the  windows,  but  every  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes  open  them  wide  for  a  moment,  to  give  the 
room  a  good  "airing  out." 

Anyone  whose  work  keeps  him  or  her  indoors  all 


94  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

day  should  try  to  get  as  much  fresh  air  as  possible  on  the 
way  to  and  from  work  and  at  the  noon  hour  and  on  holi- 
days. And  by  all  means,  try  to  sleep  in  fresh,  outdoor  air. 
No  matter  how  we  try  to  regulate  the  air  in  our  houses, 
outdoor  air  will  always  be  the  best.  Therefore  get  all  you 
can  of  it.  A  doctor  once  told  a  young  lady  who  wanted 
to  improve  her  complexion  that  she  must  buy  a  box  of 
the  best  rouge,  bury  it  two  miles  from  her  home  and  then 
go  every  day  and  dig  it  up,  and  she  would  surely  do 
her  complexion  a  world  of  good! 

These,  then,  are  the  main  things  to  remember  about 
"the  breath  of  life," — air.  It  should  be  clean.  Indoor 
air  should  be  between  sixty-two  degrees  and  seventy  de- 
grees and  moist  enough  to  be  comfortable  at  these  temper- 
atures. Lastly,  air  should  not  be  stagnant,  but  move  in 
gentle  currents  about  the  room  so  that  our  lungs  and  skin 
may  have,  constantly,  a  fresh  supply.  But  do  not  forget 
that  man  is  an  outdoor  animal  just  as  much  as  the  horse 
or  the  monkey,  and  should  live  outdoors  just  as  far  as 
possible,  if  he  wants  to  keep  his  health. 

THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE 

What  are  some  impurities  in  city  air  absent  from  woods  or  mountains  ? 

Which  is  worse,  "house"  air  in  the  country,  or  outside  air  in  the  country  ? 
Give  reasons. 

Air  affects  the  skin  as  well  as  the  lungs.  What  are  two  ways  in  which 
this  is  possible? 

Try  to  explain  why  your  body  would  have  the  same  temperature 
in  India  as  in  Greenland.  To  do  this  answer  these  questions: — 

(a)  Where  does  the  heat  of  your  body  come  from? 

(b)  How  do  the  blood  vessels  of  the  skin  behave  when  cold  strikes  them  ? 
(cj     What  kinds  of  clothes  do  we  wear  in  winter? 

(d)  How  do  blood  vessels  of  the  skin  behave  when  it  is  hot  outside? 

(e)  How  does  perspiration  help  us  to  keep  eool? 

(f )  Why  does  a  breeze  help  us  to  keep  cool? 

(g)  What  clothes  will  keep  us  cool? 


THE  BREATH  OF  LIFE  95 

If  you  stay  in  a  room,  heated  to  eighty  degrees  in  winter,  what  will 
happen  if  you  suddenly  go  outside,  or  into  a  cold  room? 

When  do  clothes  dry  faster — on  a  damp,  dry,  still,  or  windy  day?  In 
what  kind  of  air  will  your  body  lose  least  heat?  Why,  then,  is  it  better  to 
have  your  room  cool  and  the  air  moist,  than  hot  and  dry? 

Think  of  yourself  as  the  manager  of  a  workshop,  or  the  mother  of  a 
household.  What  things  will  you  remember  about  the  air  you  provide 
for  workers  or  family? 

Name  all  the  ways  you  can,  of  getting  these  good  conditions. 

Name  all  the  opportunities  that  a  city  worker  in  factory  or  school  or 
shop  has  of  getting  plenty  of  fresh  air. 

What  may  be  one  reason  why  Indians  and  Eskimos  frequently  die  of 
lung  diseases  when  they  try  to  live  as  we  do  ? 

What  provision  do  you  make,  in  your  daily  life,  for  getting  plenty  of 
fresh,  air? 


BRAIN  AND  NERVES 

IN  talking  about  posture,  we  said  that  even  a  strong, 
healthy  body  could  not  hold  itself  erect — it  must  ~be  held 
so  by  a  healthy  brain.  A  small  baby  is  unable  to  stand, 
not  merely  because  his  muscles  are  not  strong,  but  even 
more  because  his  brain  and  nerves  are  not  yet  developed 
and  trained. 

The  nervous  system  is  not  at  all  a  simple  affair  and 
it  is  not  necessary  that  you  should  know  a  great  deal 
about  the  structure  of  the  brain  and  the  long  names  that 

scientists  have  given  to  its 
various  parts.  The  main  thing 
is  to  know  how  to  use  your 
brain  and  not  abuse  it,  so  that 
it  may  serve  you  long  and  well. 
I  know  a  man  who  can  talk  for 
hours  about  the  brain  and 
nerves,  the  functions  of  the 
brain  centers,  the  nature  of 
nerve  tissue,  and  so  on,  but  he  either  does  not  know  or  does 
not  care  anything  about  the  right  way  of  living,  working 
and  resting,  to  keep  his  brain  clear  and  his  nerves  steady. 
He  always  reminds  me  of  a  man  who  took  a  correspond- 
ence course  in  order  to  become  a  chauffeur.  He  learned 
every  part  of  the  automobile  and  could  explain  just  how 
they  worked,  but  the  first  time  he  tried  to  run  a  machine, 
he  utterly  lost  control  of  it  and  had  a  smash-up. 

Still,  in  order  to  take  intelligent  care  of  your  body, 


BRAIN  AND  NERVES 


97 


you  must  understand,  in  a  general  way,  its  parts.  If 
you  look  at  the  illustration,  you  will  see  that  the  brain 
is  an  irregularly  folded  mass  of  tissue,  carefully  packed 
into  the  skull  for  protection.  From  the  under  side  of 
the  brain,  toward  the  back,  descends  the  spinal  cord, 
also  protected  by  a  series  of 
bones  through  which  it  is 
strung,  as  a  cord  strings 
beads.  This  chain  of  bones 
forms  the  spinal  column,  or 
backbone,  as  we  usually 
call  it. 

From  the  spinal  cord,  an 
infinite  number  of  smaller 
cords,  or  nerves,  branch  out 
all  over  the  body.  It  is  as  if  the  spinal 
cord  were  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  the  main 
nerves,  going  to  arms  and  legs,  the  stom- 
ach, heart  and  other  organs,  being  the 
branches,  and  the  smaller  nerves  the  twigs 
and  leaf-stems. 

But,  though  the  nervous  system  looks 
somewhat  like  a  tree,  it  is  really  more  like 
a   telephone    system,    with   the   brain   as 
"Central,"  to  whom  all  messages  come  and 
who  links  together  all  the  parts. 

If  anything  happens  to  "Central,- '  the  whole  system 
is  put  out  of  commission,  instantly.  I  remember  that  once, 
in  a  very  hot  room,  I  suddenly  felt  "queer."  The  blood 
had  all  rushed  to  my  skin,  in  an  effort  to  get  cooled,  leav- 
ing but  little  blood  in  my  brain.  The  result  was  that  the 

7 


£8  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

nerves  leading  to  my  eyes  did  not  act  and  my  eyes  began 
to  "swim."  Then  suddenly  che  room  vanished  and  I, 
though  I  did  not  know  it  until  later,  dropped  in  a  heap 
on  the  floor. 

I  was  picked  up,  laid  out 
flat,  so  that  the  blood  would 
run  back  into  my  brain  and  also 
dashed  with  cold  water.  The 
windows,  too,  were  thrown 
open,  so  that  my  skin  cooled, 
my  brain  filled  again  with 
blood,  and  I  "came  to,"  as  we 
say.  But  it  was  a  great  sur- 
prise to  me.  I  had  always 
known  that  the  brain  controlled 
the  body,  but  I  had  never 
before  realized  how  utterly 
helpless  the  body  is  without  the 
brain.  If  the  brain  is  injured  or 
for  the  time  being  useless,  as  in 
a  faint,  we  cannot  see,  we  can- 
not hear,  we  cannot  move,  we 
cannot  even  hold  our  bodies  up 
— we  fall  down,  a  useless,  help- 
less mass  of  bones,  muscles  and  flesh. 

If  the  injury  to  the  brain  is  sufficiently  great,  we  not 
only  a*re  robbed  of  sight,  hearing  and  motion,  but  our 
lungs  cease  acting,  our  hearts  stop  beating,  and  we  die. 
But  if  the  nerves  without  the  brain  are  useless,  the 
brain  without  the  nerves  would  be  equally  so.  It  would 
be  like  a  central  telephone  bureau  with  no  exchange 


BRAIN  AND  NERVES 


99 


branches  and  no  wires.  It  is  through  the  countless 
nerves  that  the  brain  sends  and  receives  its  messages  to^ 
all  parts  of  the  body. 

If  a  pin  pricks  your  finger,  the  message  runs  along 


EXCHANGE 


)_....TO  BRAIN 

FROM.  BRAIN 


SPINAL  COffO. 
EXCHANGE 
STATION 


MUSCLf 
CYLIHOE* 


TO   EARTH 


the  tiny  finger  nerve,  through  the  hand,  up  the  arm  and 
shoulder  and  so  to  the  brain,  and  instantly  you  "feel" 
the  pin-prick. 

The  nerves  also  serve  to  send  messages  from  the 
brain,  to  the  various  parts  of  the  body.  If  you  wish  to 
move  your  hand,  the  brain  sends  out  its  order  along  the 


100  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

nerve  and  the  muscles  are  moved.     If  the  nerves  lead- 
ing to   any  part  of  the  body  were  completely  cut,  it 


would  be  as  impossible  to  feel  pain  in  that  part,  or  to 

send  any  message  to  it,  as  it  is  to  send  or  receive  a 

message  over  a  telephone  whose  wires  have  been  cut. 

Now,  how  shall  we  care  for  our  nerves  and  brain,  so 


BRAIN  AND  NEttVES'  101 


that  they  shall  be  quick  to  send  and  receive- messages? 
In  the  first  place,  we  must  always  remember  that  every 
part  of  the  body  depends  on  every  other  part.  Any- 
thing that  is  good  for  the  general  health  is  also  good  for 
our  nerves  and  anything  that  lowers  our  health  is  also 
bad  for  our  nerves.  Good  food,  plenty  of  fresh  air  and 
exercise,  right  posture,  will  all  help  us  to  have  strong, 
alert  nerves,  and  an  active  brain.  You  all  know  that 
when  the  air  is  very  hot  and  stuffy  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  study — your  brain  just  won't  "go."  Sometimes  also, 
after  a  very  heavy  meal,  we  feel  so  stupid  that  our  brains 
almost  refuse  to  act. 

The  brain  and  nerves,  like  every  other  part  of  the 
body,  need  exercise,  and  very  few  people  injure  them- 
selves by  overworking  the  brain.  I  remember  a  foolish 
woman  who  used  to  say  to  me,  "Poor  Eobert!  He  had 
to  study  so  hard  at  public  school  that  I  decided  to  put 
him  in  a  private  school.  I  was  afraid  he  would  injure 
his  brain." 

No,  good  hard  work,  with  brain  or  muscle,  almost 
never  hurts  anyone.  In  fact,  brains,  like  muscles,  are 
made  stronger  by  exercise  and  it  is  good  for  us  to  pin 
our  minds  down  on  a  problem  and  work  at  it  until  we 
master  it.  The'  boy  or  girl  who  likes  to  read  easy,  amus- 
ing books,  but  hasn't  the  grit  or  patience  to  tackle  any- 
thing that  requires  real  thought  or  work  is  never  going 
to  have  a  really  strong,  capable  mind.  His  brain  is 
going  to  be  like  a  soft,  flabby  muscle  that  has  never  been 
used  and  trained. 

Of  course,  this  does  not  mean  that  we  should  drive 
our  brains  hour  after  hour  and  whip  them  up  with 


102  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

tea  or  coffee,  as  0113  whips  an  over-tired  horse.  I  know 
some  young  people  at  college  who  make  a  habit  of  fool- 
ing away  their  time  and  studying  very  little  until  just 
before  mid-year  examinations.  Then  they  sit  up  until 
one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  "cramming"  and 
drinking  black  coffee  to  keep  themselves  awake. 

If  your  brain  had  a  voice,  it  would  cry  out  in  protest 
against  this  silly  business  of  being  kept  idle  for  weeks  at 
a  time  and  then  suddenly  forced  to  hard  work,  and  dosed 
with  harmful  drugs.  You  know  that  any  man  who  wants 
to  develop  his  muscle  practices  every  day.  He  does 
not  loaf  for  a  week  and  then  work  his  muscle  violently 
for  a  whole  day.  It  is  the  same  with  the  brain.  We 
should  form  the  habit  of  using  our  brains  in  our  daily 
work,  of  studying  and  thinking.  Then  we  shall  little  by 
little,  build  up  a  brain  that  is  really  worth  something 
and  can  be  depended  on  to  serve  us. 

BRAIN  AND  NERVES 

Try  to  make  a  diagram  showing  the  connection  between  the  brain,  the 
spinal  cord,  and.  the  spinal  nerves. 

Tell  how  these  are  protected. 

Tell  where  the  nerves  go,  when  they  leave  the  cord. 

What  has  your  brain  to  do  with  the  movements  of  your  body? 

Can  you  tell  how  the  brain  is  able  to  send  and  receive  messages  from 
the  whole  body?  Do  so  by  a  comparison  with  the  telephone  system  in 
your  city. 

What  can  we  do  for  the  nerves  and  brain,  to  keep  them  in  good  healthy 
condition?  Why  do  doctors  tell  us  that  alcohol  or  coffee  injure  our 
brain  and  nerves? 

Explain  how  a  boy  can  develop  hard  muscles  in  his  arms.  Explain 
how  he  can  develop  a  strong,  actively  working  brain. 

Name  some  amusements  which  are  bad  for  the  development  of  active 
brains.  Can  you  tell  why  they  are  so? 

Lincoln,  Edison,  Pasteur  were  men  whose  brains  gave  them  power. 
Make  a  brief  study  of  how  each  lived,  and  show  how  their  ways  of  living 
helped  to  develop  what  brain  power  they  had. 


NERVES  AND  FATIGUE 


IT  is  true  that  anything  which  is  good  for  the  health 
of  the  whole  body  is  good  for  the  nerves  and  anything 
that  injures  any  part  of  the  body  also,  to  some  extent, 
weakens  the  nervous  force.  There  are,  however,  cer- 
tain habits  that  are  especially  bad  for  our  nerves  and 
certain  ways  in  which  we 
may  learn  to  avoid  wasting 
nerve  force. 

One  of  the  worst  habits 
in  the  world  is  that  of  worry- 
ing. Scientists  declare  that 
it  is  possible  to  lie  in  bed 
without  doing  a  stroke  of 
work  and  yet,  by  worrying, 
to  use  up  more  strength  in 
a  day  than  the  body  can 
manufacture  in  the  same 
length  of  time.  Just  exactly 
how  the  mind  affects  the 
body,  just  what  the  nerves 
do  to  the  blood,  I  shall  not  attempt  to  explain,  for  scien- 
tists do  not  really  know,  but  it  is  quite  possible  to  "  worry 
oneself  sick,"  as  the  saying  goes.  Everyone  who  has 
ever  tried  to  eat  when  he  was  very  unhappy,  or  angry, 
or  worried,  knows  that  an  upset  brain  means  an  upset 
stomach.  It  is  almost  impossible,  under  such  circum- 
stances, to  eat.  Sometimes  the  throat  really  seems  to 

103 


104  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

half  close  and  we  say  the  food  "sticks  in  our  throat/' 
If  we  do  succeed  in  swallowing  a  meal,  it  is  more  than 
likely  to  disagree  with  us,  for  the  nerves  which  run  to 
the  stomach  are  also  affected  and  the  stomach  cannot 
work  properly. 

I  remember,  years  ago,  reading  an  old  fable  that  ran 
something  like  this : — One  day  the  Plague  stalked  abroad 
through  the  land,  and  on  his  way  he  met  a,  peasant.  The 
peasant  fell  on  his  knees  in  dread  andprayed  to  the  Plague, 
saying,  "Oh  dreaded  Plague,  pass  by  our  village.  We 
have  done  thee  no  harm.  Spare  us  and  we  will  erect 
altars  in  thy  honor  and  worship  thee. ' ' 

The  Plague  smiled  a  mocking  smile  and  said,  "I  am 
not  so  cruel  as  men  think.  Out  of  this  village,  I  will 
take  only  five  men  to  satisfy  my  hunger.  The  rest  I 
will  not  touch." 

The  peasant  went  home  greatly  rejoicing,  but  as  the 
days  went  by,  not  merely  five  men  fell  ill  and  died,  but 
one  after  another  sickened.  The  villagers  were  panic 
stricken.  Everyone  talked  of  the  horrible  Plague,  and 
many  left  the  village  and  took  refuge  in  the  hills.  A- 
mong  these  was  the  peasant.  Finally  the  Plague  les- 
sened, but  five  hundred  villagers  were  dead.  As  the 
peasant  walked  sadly  home  from  the  hills,  he  again  met 
the  Plague  and  bitterly  upbraided  him.  "Why  didst 
thou  promise  to  kill  only  five  ? ' '  he  cried.  ' ( Liar !  Thou 
hast  slain  five  hundred. ' '  But  the  Plague  laughed.  ' '  No, 
no,"  he  replied,  "I  kept  my  promise.  I  killed  only  five. 
It  was  my  brother  Fear  that  slew  the  rest. ' ' 

As  fear  and  worry  can  make  a  healthy  person  ill  and 


NERVES  AND  FATIGUE  105 

will  always  make  a  sick  person  worse,  so  cheerfulness 
helps  to  cure  the  ill  and  to  keep  the  healthy  in  good 
health.  There  is  no  truer  sentence  in  the  Bible  than, 
"A  merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medicine." 

Yet,  no  matter  how  cheerfully  we  may  work  and 
how  free  we  may  keep  from  worry,  there  really  is  such 
a  thing  as  overwork.  Overwork  does  not  mean  working 
too  hard,  but  working  too  steadily  and  too  long  at  one 
special  task,  without  stopping  to  rest. 

If  you  play  the  violin,  you  know  that  it  does  not  do 
to  keep  the  strings  tightly  stretched  all  the  time.  When 
the  violin  is  not  in  use,  the  strings  are  slightly  loosened, 
then  tightened  when  you  tune  the  violin  before  playing 
on  it. 

Men  who  work  with  metal  speak  of  "fatigue"  in  con- 
nection with  strips  of  metal.  By  this,  they  mean  that  if 
a  strip  of  metal  is  kept  rapidly  vibrating,  it  becomes 
weakened  and  is  easily  broken.  If  it  is  made  to  vibrate 
for  a  few  minutes  and  then  allowed  to  rest,  no  weaken- 
ing results. 

Now  our  muscles  and  nerves  need  rest  periods  far 
more  than  do  steel  strips  or  violin  strings.  And  if  we 
persist  in  keeping  them  at  work  hour  after  hour,  they 
cannot  keep  on  doing  good  work  and  are  likely  to  be 
permanently  weakened. 

As  our  muscles  and  brain  work,  they  produce  waste 
substances,  much  as  the  fire  in  an  engine  produces  ashes, 
and  if  these  waste  substances  collect  faster  than  the 
blood  can  carry  them  away,  they  act  as  poisons. 

A  Mr,  Gilbreth,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  this 


106  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

question  of  fatigue,  tells  how,  in  a  certain  factory,  the 
girls  learned  to  do  more  work,  earn  more  money  and 
feel  less  tired.  He  says  that  the  girls  folded  handker- 
chiefs, and  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  resting  for  an 
hour  at  noon  and  working  all  the  rest  of  the  day  with- 
out any  set  times  for  rest.  They  found  that  in  the  after- 
noon the  girls  became  very  tired  and  could  not  get  nearly 
so  many  handkerchiefs  folded  as  in  the  morning  when 
they  were  fresh.  They  were  paid  by  the  piece,  not  by 
the  hour. 

By  the  new  method,  the  girls  worked  for  five  minutes, 
rested  one  minute,  worked  five  minutes,  rested  one  min- 
ute. This  they  kept  up  for  twenty-four  minutes.  Then 
for  twelve  minutes  they  stood,  working  five  minutes  and 
resting  one.  Then,  for  eighteen  minutes,  they  either 
stood  or  sat,  as  they  pleased,  resting  one  minute  after  each 
five  minutes'  work.  If  you  add  these  three  periods  of 
twenty-four,  twelve  and  eighteen  minutes,  you  will  see 
that  they  make  fifty-four  minutes,  just  six  minutes  less- 
than  an  ho.ur.  This  last  six  minutes  in  each  hour  the 
girls  spent  in  walking  about,  talking  or  doing  whatever 
they  pleased  to  rest  their  muscles  and  nerves.  So  the 
day  went,  with  a  minute's  rest  after  each  five  minute's 
work  and  six  minutes '  rest  at  the  end  of  each  hour. 

Mr.  Gilbreth  says  that,  the  girls,  by  this  method, 
earned  over  three  times  as  much  as  they  had  ever  been  able 
to  make  before,  were  more  interested  in  their  work  and 
said  they  were  less  tired  at  the  end  of  the  day. 

Of  course  in  many  workshops  you  will  not  be  able  to 
stop  and  rest  so  frequently.  But  you  can  often  pause 


NERVES  AND  FATIGUE 


107 


a  moment  and  take  a  long  breath,  throw  back  your  shoul- 
ders and  stretch.  It  will  help  you  to  work  better.  And 
while  you  are  working  don't  think  that  it  will  rest  you 
to  dawdle  over  your  work  and  do  it  in  a  half-hearted 
way.  Work  to  the  very  best  of  your  ability,  give  your 


best  self  to  your  work,  and  when  you  rest  forget  all  about 
it  and  play  just  as  hard  as  you  worked  before. 

A  great  many  boys  and  girls  who  go  to  work  for  the 
first  time  do  not  realize  that  to  be  a  really  good  worker, 
one  must  be  a  good  player  and  a  good  sleeper.  By  be- 
ing a  good  player,  I  mean  that  one  must  play  with  all 
his  heart  and  that  he  must  make  today's  play  help  with 
tomorrow's  work. 

If  your  work  keeps  you  humped  over  a  table  all  day, 


108  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

it  is  well  to  get  some  fresh  air  and  exercise  in  the  even- 
ing and  on  holidays.  If  you  are  an  errand  boy  and  are 
on  your  feet  and  outdoors  most  of  the  day,  you  will  enjoy 
quiet,  indoor  sport  in  the  evening. 

The  matter  of  sleep  is  a  very  serious  one.  I  know 
a  boy  who  is  a  clerk  in  a  store.  He  dearly  loves  the 
theater.  So  do  I;  I  do  not  blame  him  for  that  at  all. 
But  instead  of  going  to  a  seven  o'clock  "  mo  vie"  and 
attending  the  theater  on  Saturday  nights  when  he  can 
lie  abed  the  next  day,  he  goes  three  or  four  times  a  week 
to  motion  pictures,  arriving  at  nine  o'clock  and  getting 
home  after  eleven.  As  he  has  to  get  up  at  six  in  order 
to  get  to  work  in  time,  he  has  only  seven  hours  of  sleep 
— not  nearly  enough  for  a  young,  hardworking  body  to 
get  "rested  up." 

During  sleep  the  entire  body  is  relaxed.  To  be  sure, 
the  heart  and  lungs  still  keep  working,  but,  as  you  know, 
even  they  do  not  work  so  hard  as  when  we  are  awake. 
The  heart  beats  much  more  slowly  and  you  can  tell  when 
a  person  is  asleep  by  the  long,  slow,  regular  breathing. 

And  while  the  body  is  relaxed,  the  blood  washes  all 
through  it,  carrying  off  waste  matter  and  refreshing 
us  and  making  us  ready  for  the  next  day's  work. 

If  the  body  is  not  thoroughly  rested  each  night,  by 
a  good  long  sleep  of  at  least  eight  hours,  it  begins  the 
day  badly  and  before  night  is  worn  out.  Fatigue  means 
accidents.  In  the  factories  of  Illinois,  a  record  of  acci- 
dents was  kept  for  one  year,  for  each  hour  in  the  day.  It 
showed  that  the  fewest  accidents  occurred  during  the 
first  hour's  work  and  during  the  first  hour  after  the 


NERVES  AND  FATIGUE 


109 


noon  rest.     The  largest  number  of  accidents  in  the  whole 
day  happened  between  four  and  five  in  the  afternoon, 


when  the  workers  were  tired.  Lack  of  sleep  means  lack 
of  strength,  lack  of  strength  means  fatigue,  and  fatigue 
is  pretty  sure,  some  day,  to  mean  an  accident. 


110  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

NERVES  AND  FATIGUE 

Explain  the  "parable  of  the  Plague"  told  in  this  chapter. 

Can  you  tell  any  story  which  shows  how  fear  weakens  the  body? 

Can  you  tell  a  story  which  shows  how  courage,  or  faith,  strengthens  ? 

In  what  way  will  overwork  injure  a  person?  How  can  a  person  work 
very  hard  and  very  long,  and  yet  not  be  injured  ? 

How  is  it  that  your  heart  can  beat  day  and  night  for  seventy  years  or 
more  without  being  overworked? 

Explain  the  improvement  the  girls  made  in  handkerchief  folding  as  it 
is  described  in  your  chapter. 

Could  you  apply  that  idea  to  any  work  that  you  do?  Make  a  program 
of  work  for  yourself  which  shows  you  understand  the  improvement  in  work. 

How  should  you  modify  your  recreation  to  suit  the  kind  of  work  you  do  ? 

How  much  sleep  do  you  need?  How  much  do  you  get?  How  must  you 
change  your  habits  to  get  the  proper  amount? 

What  changes  making  you  fit  to  do  your  day's  work  take  place 
during  sleep? 

Prove  by  some  examples,  that  there  is  a  relation  between  accidents  in 
factories  and  fatigue. 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE 

OF  all  the  nerves  which  carry  messages  from  the 
outer  world  to  our  brains,  none  are  more  useful  and  none 
more  abused  than  the  nerves  of  our  eyes.  . 

If  you  look  at  a  skull,  you  will  see  the  bony  hollows 
each  side  of  the  nose  in  which  the  eyeballs  lie,  and  in 
the  back  of  each  bony  socket,  you  will  see  a  small  hole. 
It  is  through  these  holes  that 
the  eye-nerves  pass  to  the 
brain,  for  the  eyeball  is  only  an, 
instrument  for  catching  pic- 
tures and  the  nerve  a  wire  for 
passing  them  on — it  is  the  brain 
that  really  sees.  We  know  this 
because  even  if  the  eyeball  is 
perfect,  if  the  nerve  is  cut,  we 
cannot  see,  while,  even  with  our 
lids  closed,  so  that  our  eyeball 
receives  no  pictures,  our  brain 
can  recall  images  and  see 
scenes  long  past.  Blindness  may  be  due  to  several 
things,  to  an  injury  to  the  eyeball,  so  that  no  picture 
is  formed,  an  injury  to  the  nerve,  so  that  the  picture  can- 
not be  sent  to  the  brain,  or  an  injury  to  the  fore  part  of 
the  brain,  so  that  it  cannot  receive  any  impression  from 
the  nerve. 

The  eye  has  often  been  compared  to  a  camera  and 
it  really  is  very  much  like  one,  as  you  can  see  by  the 

111 


113 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


illustration.  It  has  a  lens,  as  the  camera  has,  which 
makes  a  picture  upside  down  on  the  black  lining,  or 
retina  of  the  eye,  just  as  the  camera  lens  makes  a  pic- 
ture upside  down  on  the  plate.  One  difference,  however, 
is  that  the  photographer  has  to  use  a  fresh  plate  for 
each  picture.  In  the  lining  of  the  eye,  the  picture  is 


OBJtCT 


LftNi 


bleached  by  the  light  on  the  dark  ground,  but  the  dark 
coloring  matter  is  constantly  renewed,  so  that  we  are  able 
to  see  as  many  as  eight  different  things,  one  after  the 
other  in  a  single  second. 

We  might  suspect  that  our  eyes  were  among  our  most 
precious  tools,  from  the  way  that  Nature  has  packed 
them  carefully  and  protected  them  on  every  side.  They 
are  not  only  sunk  in  bony  hollows,  but  eyebrows,  eyelids 
and  eyelashes  all  help  to  keep  dust,  insects  and  sharp 
particles  out  of  the  eyes,  and  to  protect  them  from  too 
much  light. 

At  the  outer  side  of  each  eye  is  a  tiny  bag  or  gland 
that  manufactures  tears,  so  that  when  anything  gets 
"into  your  eye"  as  you  say,  it  may  be  washed  away. 

Of  course  nothing  but  a  sharp  instrument  of  some 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE  113 

kind  can  really  get  into  your  eye,  for  the  lens,  as  you  can 
see  in  the  picture,  is  protected  by  a  clear  sort  of  watch- 
glass  arrangement  called  the  "cornea." 

The  lens  is  also  protected  from  too  much  light  by  the 
iris — the  colored  part  of  the  eye,  which  acts  like  the 
shutter  of  the  camera  and  has  a  hole  in  the  center  called 
the  pupil.  The  pupil  TeAH 
looks  black  because 
through  it  we  see  the 
black  retina  lining  the 
eyeball. 

You  know  that  in 
taking  a  picture,  the  camera  must  be  adjusted  according 
to  the  distance  of  the  object  to  be  photographed,  and 
probably  you  have  seen  the  photographer  slide  the  front 
of  the  camera  containing  the  lens  back  and  forth,  until 
it  is  at  just  the  right  distance  to  make  a  clear, 
sharp  picture. 

The  eye  lens,  too,  needs  to  be  f ocussed,  so  that  a  clear 
picture  may  fall  on  the  retina,  but  we  cannot  keep  mov- 
ing our  eyes  nearer  or  farther  away  all  the  time.  Imag- 
ine how  awkward  it  would  be  if  our  eyes  were  "set"  for 
taking  pictures  at  a  distance  of  twenty  inches.  We 
should  be  able  to  read  comfortably,  but  we  could  not  see 
across  the  room — all  would  be  a  blur.  Or,  if  our  lenses 
were  f  ocussed  for  a  distance  of  eight  feet,  we  should  be 
able  to  see  pictures  on  the  walls  of  our  rooms,  but  if  we 
tried  to  read  a  book,  the  print  would  be  a  blur. 

To  get  around  this  difficulty,  the  lens  of  the  eye  is 
made  not  of  stiff,  unyielding  glass,  like  the  camera  lens, 
but  of  a  sort  of  clear,  elastic  material,  like  a  very  stiff  jelly. 

8 


114 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE  115 

When  an  object  near  by  is  looked  at,  the  muscles 
pull,  so  that  the  lens  bulges  out  farther.  When  a  far 
off  object  is  seen,  the  muscle  relaxes  and  the  lens  is 
flattened.  In  each  case,  a  distinct  picture  is  made  on 
the  retina, 

You  will  understand  this  much  more  clearly  if  you 
can  experiment  with  two  or  three  lenses,  such  as  a  hand 
magnifying  glass  of  good  size  and  one  of  the  round  glass 
dishes  which  stationers  sell  for  holding  odds  and  ends 
on  one's  desk.  The  latter  forms  a  much  more  bulging 
or  convex  lens.  By  holding  up  a  piece  of  paper  and 
letting  the  light  from  the  window  fall  through  the  lens 
upon  the  paper,  you  will  find  that  at  a  certain  distance, 
you  can  throw  a  perfect,  upside  down  picture  of  the 
window  on  the  paper.  But  you  will  find  that  the  paper 
must  be  much  nearer  to  the  very  convex  lens  than  to  the 
other,  to  make  the  picture  clear. 

The  reason  why  reading,  sewing  and  close  work  is 
harder  on  the  eyes  than  just  gazing  off  into  the  distance 
is  that,  as  you  can  see  by  your  experiment,  the  lens  must 
be  made  convex,  and  this  means  that  the  muscles  must 
pull,  to  make  it  so. 

For  such  close  work,  we  need  a  steady,  fairly  strong 
light.  It  is  very  foolish  to  try  to  read  or  write  at  night 
by  a  flickering  gaslight,  or  to  try  to  sew  on  black  material 
by  artificial  light.  You  can  see,  by  trying  it  with  your 
lenses,  that  a  good  light  is  needed  to  make  a  clear  picture. 

Another  important  thing  is  to  have  the  light  come 
from  the  left,  so  that  your  work  is  not  shadowed  by  your 
hand,  and  from  behind,  so  that  the  light  does  not  shine 
into  your  eyes.  If  you  have  ever  watched  a  photogra- 


116  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

pher,  or  taken  pictures  yourself,  you  know  that  no  good 
picture  can  be  taken  facing  the  sun.  The  sunlight  must 
be  behind  the  photogapher  and  shining  on  his  subject. 
If  at  your  work,  the  light  is  so  placed  that  it  must  be  in 
front  of  you,  pay  ten  cents  for  an  eye-shade  and  save 
your  precious  eyes.  Kemember,  too,  not  to  hold  the 
work  close  to  your  eyes. 

Unless  one's  eyes  are 
naturally  very  strong,  it 
is  a  mistake  to  take  up 
any  sort  of  work  that  re- 
quires extremely  fine  and 
close  work,  such  as  watch 
making,  fine  jewelry  work, 
continual  use  of  a  micro 
scope,  etc.  And  of  course 
no  one  should  be  so  silly 
as  to  read  very  fine  print. 
We  do  not  always  sus- 
pect that  our  eyes  need 
care.  Sometimes  eyes 
that  are  out  of  order  show 
it  by  watering,  aching,  or 
having  red  lids,  but  sometimes  eye  strain  shows  itself 
in  quite  other  ways,  for,  as  I  said,  we  are  all  "made 
in  one  piece"  and  trouble  with  the  eyes  may  make  trouble 
in  other  parts  of  the  body. 

I  know  a  lady  who  used  to  have  headaches,  especially 
if  she  read  pr  sewed  or  went  to  a  motion  picture.  She 
tried  various  things  but  her  headaches  continued.  Fin- 
ally she  went  to  an  oculist,  who  found  that  her  eyes  were 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE 


117 


out  of  order.     He  fitted  her  with  glasses  whose  lenses 
helped  to  make  things  clear  and  distinct  without  the 


Figures  <m  blackboard  sharp  arid  clear.     This  is  the  way  they  look  to  the  child 
with  abnormal  eyes  after  he  has  been  properly  fitted  with  glasses. 


Blurred  picture  of  schoolroom,  showing  how  room  looks  to  a  child  with  astig- 
matic eyes. 

lenses  of  her  eyes  having  to  work  so  hard,  and  her  head- 
aches stopped  at  once. 

Some  people  have  a  silly  dread  of  going  to  an  oculist 


118  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

and  I  have  even  known  one  man  who  used  someone's  else 
glasses,  rather  than  have  his  eyes  examined  and  get  pro- 
per glasses.  There  are  many  eye  clinics  and  hospitals  now 
where  one  can  have  a  free  examination  and  obtain  glasses 
at  cost  and  no  one  should  try  to  worry  along  without  glasses 
if  his  eyes  need  them. 

Another  way  in  which  many  people  run  great  risk  of 
injuring  their  eyes  is  by  using  public  towels,  rubbing 
their  eyes  with  dirty  fingers,  and  in  other  ways  getting 
dirt  or  disease  germs  inside  the  eyelids.  Make  it  a  rule 
to  keep  your  hands  away  from  your  face.  By  using  a 
public  towel,  you  are  likely  to  catch  a  fearful  eye-disease 
called  trachoma,  which  may  even  end  in  blindness.  Don't 
take  the  slightest  risk.  If  separate  towels  or  paper 
towels  are  not  provided  in  any  place  where  you  are 
studying,  travelling  or  working,  carry  your  own  towel 
with  you. 

Another  way  in  which  eyes  are  injured  in  many  work- 
rooms is  by  flying  bits  of  steel,  stone  or  dust.  Usually 
workers  are  protected  by  goggles  in  trades  where  such 
sharp  particles  are  likely  to  be  flying  about.  But  too 
often  they  grow  careless  and  will  risk  losing  their  eyes 
rather  than  take  the  trouble  to  put  on  the  protectors. 

If  you  will  just  close  your  eyes  for  a  moment  every 
now  and  then,  when  you  are  doing  fine  work,  or  gaze  off 
out  the  window,  far  away,  to  let  the  eye-muscles  rest, 
you  will  find  it  a  great  help. 

When  I  was  a  child  I  had  a  friend  who  was  blind. 
She  was  very  sweet  and  patient,  but  the  sight  of  her  con- 
stant, uncomplaining  affliction  made  me  realize  how  pre- 
cious my  eyes  were.  "One  pair  of  eyes  for  life !"  Try 


THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE  119 

to  realize  that  and  don't  abuse  the  tools  without  which 
you  would  be  helpless. 

THE  TOOLS  WITH  WHICH  WE  SEE 

Can  your  camera  see?  To  what  part  of  your  seeing  apparatus  does 
a  camera  correspond  ?  Try  to  get  a  camera — point  out  the  likenesses  and  the 
differences,  between  it  and  your  eyes  in  the  work  the  parts  do. 

With  what  part  of  your  seeing  apparatus  do  you  see?  Could  you 
prove  this? 

Make  a  list  of  all  the  things  that  nature  has  given  you  to  protect 
your  eyes. 

Think  of  your  eye  again,  as  a  kodak.  How  do  you  "set"  it,  to  take  a 
picture  afar  off?  Close  by?  How  is  your  eye  set  for  the  same  thing? 
Why  might  this  arrangement  make  some  part  of  the  eye  tired? 

Try  the  experiment  with  lenses,  described  in  this  chapter.  What  kind  of 
lens  gives  the  best  picture,  when  held  close?  What  kind  of  light  gave  the 
clearest  image?  Apply  these  observations  to  your  ways  of  reading  or 
sewing.  Are  your  ways  good? 

Make  a  list  of  "light"  rules  to  guide  you  in  care  of  your  eyes. 

Explain  how  headaches  or  even  indigestion  might  come  from  strained  eyes. 

What  can  an  oculist  do  for  your  eyes? 

How  can  germs  causing  eye  diseases  get  into  the  eyes  of  healthy  persons  ? 

How  are  you  going  to  protect  yourself  from  such  dangers? 

How  can  you  rest  your  eyes  while  working? 


CAEE  OF  THE  EARS 

JUST  as  Nature  has  carefully  protected  our  eyes  by 
embedding  them  in  bony  sockets,  so  she  has  protected 
our  ears  by  packing  them — the  really  important  part  of 
them — away  in  our  skulls.  What  we  ordinarily  speak 
of  as  our  ears  are  only  the  trumpets  which  help  to  catch 
the  sounds  and  carry  them  to  our  inner  ears.  These 
outer  ears  can  be  quite  destroyed  without  our  hearing 
being  really  much  affected. 

If  you  could  see  into  your  head,  you 
would  find  that  your  outer  ear-trumpet 
runs  into  a  narrow  tube,  much  as  the 
spreading  rim  of  a  phonograph  horn 
narrows  into  its  base.  But  you  would 
notice  that  this  tube  is  not  straight, 
but  runs  up  and  then  dips  sharply 
down.  This  up  and  down  arrange- 
ment makes  it  much  harder  for  any  dust,  liquid 
or  any  other  hurtful  object  to  get  into  your  ear 
than  it  would  be  if  the  tube  were  straight,  or  if  it 
slanted  downhill  all  the  way. 

In  order  to  help  still  further  in  keeping  intruders  out, 
the  tube  is  lined  with  tiny  hairs  and  pours  out  a  sticky, 
yellow  "earwax,"  just  as  the  rest  of  your  body  pours 
out  perspiration.  The  ear  is  like  an  ancient  castle  that 
had  to  be  defended  by  moat  and  drawbridge,  for  besides 
being  approached  by  a  winding  tube,  with  hairs  and  wax, 
it  has  at  the  end  of  the  outer  tube,  a  tightly  stretched 
membrane  like  a  drum-head,  which  we  call  the  ear 
uo 


CARE  OF  THE  EARS  121 

"drum."  This  membrane  is  very  useful  in  keeping 
water,  insects  and  all  other  bodies  out  of  the  very  delicate 
ear-parts  which  lie  on  its  inner  side.  "We  can  hear  fairly 
well  without  the  ear  drum,  but  it  is  most  important 
that  it  should  not  be  broken,  for,  as  I  said,  it  keeps  out 
dangerous  substances  and  also  helps  to  keep  the  inner 
ear  from  becoming  too  dry  from  exposure  to  the  air. 

Many  people,  in  an  effort  to  be  clean,  dig  at  their  ear- 
tubes  with  a  hairpin,  or  other  sharp  instrument,  pushing 
the  wax  against  the  drum  or  even  poking  the  hairpin  in 
so  far  that  it  may  break  the  drum.  I  have  often  seen  a 
man  scratch  the  inside  of  his  ear  with  a  tooth  pick  or 
the  head  of  a  pin,  as  unconcernedly  as  if  he  were  not  tak- 
ing a  fearful  risk. 

If  one  is  working  at  a  very  dusty  trade,  so  that  the 
ear-tubes  are  filled  with  dirt,  they  should  be  carefully 
washed  out  at  night  with  warm  water,  but  never  dug 
or  prodded. 

If  any  small  object  gets  into  the  ear,  it  can  often  be 
shaken  out  by  tipping  the  head  over  on  that  side,  then 
pulling  the  outside  ear  downward.  This  tends  to 
straighten  the  tube  and.  let  the  object  fall  out.  But  if 
we  try  to  dig  it  out,  we  are  likely  to  push  it  clear  over 
the  "hill"  in  the  tube  and  down  against  the  ear-drum. 
If  a  very  little  shaking  or  hot  water  does  not  end  the 
trouble,  see  a  doctor  and  let  him  do  what  more  is  needed. 
The  ears,  like  the  eyes,  are  too  delicate  to  "fool"  with. 

Another  thing  to  remember  is  that  blowing  into  the 
ear  or  "boxing"  it,  is  likely  to  break  the  tightly  stretched 
drum,  just  as  an  explosion  will  often  break  a  window. 


122  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

If  you  study  the  picture,  you  will  see  that,  on  the 
inner  side  of  the  ear-drum,  the  tube  widens  out  into  a 
larger  space.  This  is  called  the  middle  ear.  From  its 
lower  side  there  runs  a  tube  that  goes  into  the  throat. 
When  you  swallow,  you  can  feel  the  air  go  up  this  tube 
into  your  middle  ear.  The  object  of  the  tube  is  to  make  the 
air  pressure  equal  on  both  sides  of  the  drum-membrane,  so 

that  it  shall  be  flat  and  not 
bulge  either  in  or  out.  In 
going  through  a  railroad  tun- 
nel, the  heavier  air  often 
presses  disagreeably  against 
the  ear-drum,  but  if  you  yawn 
or  swallow,  the  air  rushes  up 
the  tube  from  the  throat, 
presses  against  the  inner  side 
of  the  membrane  and  keeps  it  flat  by  making  the  pressure 
on  both  sides  equal. 

In  mines,  in  caissons  under  water  and  in  other  under- 
ground work,  this  matter  of  keeping  the  air  pressure 
equal  is  important,  for  the  dense,  heavy  air  in  such  places 
puts  a  great  strain  on  the  workmen's  ears. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  anyone  like  an  aviator  who 
is  obliged  to  rise  suddenly  to  a  great  height  where  the  air 
is  much  rarer  and  lighter,  making  the  pressure  from  the 
outside  much  less  than  from  within,  so  that  the  drum 
bulges  out. 

If  you  look  at  the  illustration,  you  will  see,  just  inside 
the  ear-drum,  three  tiny  bones,  fitting  into  each  other. 
From  their  shapes  they  have  been  named  the  hammer, 
anvil  and  stirrup.  The  stirrup  rests  against  a  hollow 


CARE  OF  THE  EARS 


123 


BONES   m  MIDDLE    EAR. 


LABYRINTHS 


COCHLEA 


bone  which  winds  round  and  round  like  a  snail  shell 
and  contains  a  great  many  nerve  fibers. 

Just  above  the  " snail  shell"  or  to  call  it. by  its  Latin 
name,  "cochlea,,"  lie  several  bony  tubes  and  spaces,  like 
loops  which  are  lined  with  a  skin  or  membrane.  In  this 
membrane  are  the  endings  of  countless  nerve  fibers. 
These  nerve  fibres,  like 
the  nerve  fibres  in  the 
cochlea,  join  to  form  a 
larger  nerve  thread  and 
the  nerves  from  the 
bony  tubes  and  from  the 
cochlea,  join  to  form  the 
big  nerve  of  hearing, 
which  carries  messages 
to  the  brain. 

To  understand 
clearly  just  how  sounds  reach  these  nerve  fibers,  we  must 
remember  that  sound,  like  heat  and  light,  is  produced 
by  motion. 

If  you  draw  a  piece  of  steel  against  a  stone,  it  will 
make  a  slight  sound.  If  you  rub  it  back  and  forth  for 
some  time,  the  stone  will  begin  to  be  heated.  If  you 
continue  rubbing,  or  strike  the  stone  quickly  and  vio- 
lently with  the  steel,  it  will  make  a  spark.  The  sound, 
the  heat  and  the  spark  of  light  were  all  made  by  motion, 
either  slower  or  faster. 

Sounds  are  usually  carried  to  us  through  the  air. 
If  you  make  a  rapid  pass  through  the  air  with  a  limber 
cane  or  whip,  you  hear  a  "swishing"  sound.  The  cane 
moving  quickly  made  the  air  move  quickly  from  its  path. 


124  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

The  moving  waves  of  air  struck  your  ear-drum,  and 
made  it,  in  turn,  quiver,  just  as,  if  you  blow  against  the 
surface  of  a  glass  of  water,  it  will  quiver. 

The  quiver  from  the  ear-drum  was  passed  on  to  the 
hammer,  anvil  and  stirrup  bones  and  by  them  it  travel- 
led on  to  the  cochlea,  and  the  bony  tubes  and  loops  where 
the  nerve  ends  were  set  quivering.  Then  the  message 
ran  along  the  nerve  to  the  brain,  and  you  heard. 

I  said  that  sounds  were  usually  carried  to  us  by  air- 
waves but  they  may  be  carried  in  quite  a  different  way. 

If  you  stop  your  ears  as  tightly  as  possible  and  then 
hold  a  watch  between  your  teeth,  you  will  hear  it  tick 
very  plainly.  In  this  case,  the  watch's  motion  was  not 
carried  to  your  ear-nerves  by  means  of  air-waves  strik- 
ing against  your  ear-drum.  It  was  carried  by  setting 
your  teeth  quivering,  and  from  the  teeth  the  tiny  quiver 
ran  through  the  bones  of  your  head  and  so  reached  the 
nerves  and  found  your  brain. 

I  remember  a  deaf  lady  who  always  carried  some- 
thing that  looked  like  a  black  fan,  which  she  laid  against 
her  front  teeth.  She  told  me  that  it  was  an  instrument 
for  catching  the  air-waves,  much  as  the  outer  ear  does, 
only  that  the  wave's  motion  went  through  the  teeth-and- 
skull-route  instead  of  the  ear-route. 

Of  course  such  an  instrument  helps  the  hearing  only 
when  it  is  the  ear  bones  that  are  at  fault.  When  it  is 
the  ear  nerves  that  are  useless,  no  instrument  can  help. 

Since  about  one  grown  person  out  of  every  three 
is  more  or  less  deaf,  and  since  many  are  dumb  because 
they  lost  their  hearing  in  babyhood,  everyone  ought 
clearly  to  understand  what  to  do  and  not  to  do  to  keep 
his  ears  sound  and  healthy. 


CARE  OF  THE  EARS  125 

The  main  thing  is  to  know  what  not  tot  do,  for  healthy 
ears  need  no  special  care  beyond  keeping  up  the  general 
health  of  the  body. 

The  old  maxim,  " Don't  put  anything  smaller  than 
your  elbow  into  your  ear,"  was  based  on  common  sense. 
To  it  we  might  add,  don't  put  any  liquid  but  warm  water 
into  your  ear.  If  a  hot  water  bottle  does  not  relieve 
an  earache,  lose  no  time  in  going  to  a  good  doctor. 
Your  inner  ear  is  very  delicate,  very  near  your  brain. 
A  "running  ear"  may  develop  into  a  real  danger. 

Examinations  of  school  children  show  that  a  great 
many  have  the  beginnings  of  ear  trouble  or  even  serious 
deafness.  If  such  trouble  is  taken  in  time,  it  may  often 
be  cured,  and  every  school  child's  ears  should  be  tested. 
Often  a  child  or  even  a  grown  person  is  thought  stupid 
when  really  he  is  deaf. 

To  test  your  ears,  shut  your  eyes,  so  that  they  can- 
iiot  help  you,  and  then  let  a  friend  hold  a  fairly  loud- 
ticking  watch  at  different  distances.  If  you  cannot  hear 
it  when  it  is  over  thirty  inches  away,  you  should  have 
your  ears  examined.  Try  first  one  ear  and  then  the 
other,  stopping  up  the  ear  that  is  not  being  tested. 

Deafness  is  one  of  the  worst  handicaps  that  any 
worker  can  struggle  against.  It  makes  it  very  hard  to 
get  or  to  keep  many  kinds  of  work  and  it  deprives  us 
of  many  pleasures.  So  look  out  for  your  ears,  in  order 
that  they  may  serve  you  long  and  well. 

CARE  OF  THE  EARS 

Make  a  list  of  the  safeguards  which  Nature  has  placed  around  your 
inner  ear.  Why  is  this  part  of  the  ear  so  important? 

What  are  the  safe  ways  of  cleaning  our  outer  ears?  What  things 
dangerous  to  the  outer  ear  may  we  sometimes  do? 


126  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

Explain  why  swallowing  relieves  the  stuffy  feeling  in  the  ears  felt  when 
going  through  a  deep  tunnel,  or  when  you  have  a  bad  cold.  (This  may  seem 
hard  at  first,  but  if  you  read  the  chapter  carefully,  you  will  find  the  reason.) 

Find  the  picture  which  shows  the  whole  hearing  apparatus.  Name  all 
the  parts  and  their  relations  to  each  other  without  looking  at  the 
printed  explanation.  Show,  on  this  picture,  where  the  nerves  are  which 
help  in  hearing. 

Make  the  experiments  spoken  of  in  this  chapter  to  produce  sound. 
Try  to  tell  how  these  sounds  are  produced.  Turn  again  to  the  picture 
and  show  on  it  how  the  sounds  must  travel,  before  you  hear. 

Try  the  experiment  of  closing  your  ears  and  holding  a  watch  between 
your  teeth.  How  now,  does  the  sound  reach  your  ear  nerves?  Describe 
a  piece  of  apparatus  working  on  this  principle,  used  by  deaf  people.  What 
kind  of  deafness  could  be  so  helped  ? 

How  can  you  find  out  if  your  hearing  is  normal?  Is  it?  How  could 
this  knowledge  be  useful  to  you? 

Is  it  of  any  earning  value  to  you  to  have  good  hearing? 

Make  as  long  a  list  as  you  can  of  things  you  should  do  to  preserve 
your  hearing. 


COLDS— HOW  TO  CATCH  AND  HOW  TO 
AVOID  THEM 

THE  general  term  "a  cold"  covers  more  sorts  of 
misery  than  any  other  word.  It  is  used  to  mean  almost 
anything,  from  a  slight  case  of  "sniffles"  to  bronchitis 
or  tuberculosis. 

If  you  ask  how  colds  are  caught,  you  will  receive  al- 
most as  many  different  answers  as  there  are  people  to 
answer.  One  will  say  that  he  catches  cold  from  wet 
feet.  Another  will  say  that  she  ran  bareheaded  to  the 
corner  to  post  a  letter.  Another  will  explain  that  his 
cold  came  from  a  draughty  sleeping  car.  And  still 
another  will  declare  that  his  was  .caught  from  another 
member  of  his  family. 

It  is  quite  possible  for  a  cold  to  be  caught  in  any 
one  of  many  different  ways,  but  we  are  often  mistaken 
as  to  the  way  in  which  our  particular  cold  was  caught. 

We  say,  for  instance,  that  wet  feet  lead  to  a  cold. 
Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  while  wet  feet  are  uncomf ort- 
able,  they  will  very  seldom,  so  long  as  one  keeps  exercis- 
ing, cause  a  cold.  Colds  are  caused  by  coming  indoors 
and  sitting  in  wet  shoes  and  stockings. 

The  reason  for  this  is  that  all  colds  not  directly 
caught  from  another  sufferer  are  due  to  some  interfer- 
ence with  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 

If  the  blood  is  flowing  at  a  good  rate  throughout  the 
body,  every  part  is  well  warmed,  but  the  blood  does  not 
collect  and,  as  the  doctors  say,  become  congested,  (which 
simply  means  " crowded")  in  any  one  place. 

127 


128  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

Now,  while  you  are  tramping  alo,ng  in  the  rain,  the 
exercise  keeps  your  heart  pumping  away  at  a  rapid  rate, 


the  blood  moves  quickly  all  through  your  body,  and  you 
feel  no  chill. 

But  when  you  come  in  and  sit  down,  your  heart  beats 
more  slowly,  driving  your  blood  at  a  slower  pace.     As 


COLDS 


129 


A'ff  CHAMBER 
(El  AS  tic) 


the  blood  flows  through  your  feet,  all  the  tiny  blood  ves- 
sels in  the  skin  have  time  to  be  chilled  by  the  wet  stock- 
ings and  the  longer  you  sit,  the  more  of  the  blood  is 
thus  cooled.  This  chilling  of  the  skin,  as  you  know, 
causes  the  blood  vessels  to  draw  together  and  let  less 
blood  come  through.  The  result  of  all  this  is  that  the 
blood  no  longer  flows 
evenly  and  with  fair 
speed  through  the 
body,  but  is  hindered 
from  visiting  the 
chilled  part  while  it 
gathers  and  is 
crowded  into  other 
parts.  That  is  why 
sitting  with  wet 
stockings  and  shoes 
may  mean  cold  feet 
arid  a  burning,  aching 
red  throat,  congested 

With    blOOd.  How  the  Heart  Pumps. 

A  sudden,  quick,  exposure  to  cold,  for  a  few  minutes, 
or  while  exercising,  ought  not  to  hurt  anyone  in  ordinary 
health.  Indeed,  as  you  know,  cold  shower  baths  and 
sudden,  brief  changes  of  temperature  are  good  exercise 
for  the  skin.  It  is  the  slow  chilling  of  one  part  that  is 
likely  to  do  mischief. 

Fresh  air  is  the  best  preventive  of  colds,  a  brisk 
walk  on  a  cold  day  is  a  fine  tonic ;  but  a  small  stream  of 
cold  air  blowing  on  the  back  of  the  neck  is  another  matter. 
One  of  the  worst  colds  I  ever  had  was  caused  by  sitting 


130 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


in  this  way  with  the  rest  of  my  body  warm  and  a  tiny 
thread  of  cold  air  playing  on  my  back.  If  I  had  had 
cold  air  blowing  all  around  me,  I  should  doubtless  have 
been  all  right. 

The  same  thing  often  happens  in  a  sleeping  car. 
Either  there  is  no  ventilation  and  the  air  is  so  hot  and 

dry  that  rapid  evaporation 
makes  the  skin  chilly,  or 
else  there  is  a  narrow  stream 
of  'air  pouring  through 
the  crack  of  the  window  on 
just  one  spot. 

Many  people  are  so 
afraid  of  drafts  that  they 
fear  open  windows  and  shun 
a  breeze  like  the  plague. 
Nothing  could  be  sillier.  By 
all  means  sleep  with  windows 
open  wide,  top  and  bottom, 
work  and  play  as  much  as  possible  in  the  open  air  and 
' '  toughen"  your  skin  by  cool  baths  and  plenty  of  exposure 
to  air,  so  that  you  will  not  be  affected  by  changes  of  tem- 
perature. There  is  no  surer  way  to  make  yourself  "ten- 
der ' '  and  a  ready  victim  for  colds  than  to  shut  yourself  up 
in  overheated  rooms  and  muffle  up  in  heavy,  thick  clothing. 
People  who  work  indoors  all  day  should  never  wear  heavy 
underwear,  but  rely  on  heavy  outer  wraps  to  protect  them 
when  they  go  out. 

Thus  far  we  have  talked  about  the  type  of  cold  that 
comes  from  an  upset  circulation  and  chilling  of  some 
part  of  the  body.  The  more  usual  type  of  cold  is 


COLDS 


131 


4 ' caught"  by  one  person  from  another,  and  is  as  truly  a 
germ  disease  as  smallpox  or  typhoid,  though  it  may 
be  due  to  several  different  forms  of  bacteria. 

It  is  supposed  that  various  bacteria  can  usually  be 


found  in  the  nose,  but  do  no  harm  remaining  quiet,  un- 
less, for  one  reason  or  another,  the  owner  of  the  nose 
is  a  little  upset  and  not  quite  so  strong  as  usual.  Then 
they  set  to  work  and  make  trouble. 

For  this  reason,  it  is  very  important  to  keep  free  from 
constipation,  which  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  paving  the 
way  for  a  cold  to  develop.  In  constipation,  the  poison- 
ous waste  matter,  instead  of  being  thrown  off,  passes 
into  the  blood  and  settles  in  some  "weak  spot."  This 
often  means  a  cold. 


132 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


Since  most  colds  are  caused  by  germs,  it  is  clear  that 
anyone  with  a  cold  should  avoid  other  people  as  far  as 
possible  and  should  be  especially  careful  not  to  cough, 
sneeze  or  spit  where  he  can  scatter  Ms  germs.  It  is 
amazing  how  many  people,  in  a  crowded  car,  will  cough, 


or  sneeze  without  making  any  effort  to  cover  the  mouth 
with  a  handkerchief.  The  handkerchief  should  be  clean 
and  should  not  be  used,  as  it  often  is,  to  dust,  polish  the 
boots,  etc.  And  as  for  spitting,  our  streets  and  public 
places  are  a  national  disgrace. 

It  is,  of  course,  often  impossible  for  a  worker  to 
remain  at  home  because  of  a  slight  cold,  but  he  can  and 


COLDS  133 

ought  to  protect  his  fellow  workers  so  far  as  he  can.  I 
wish  all  workers  would  do  like  a  young  friend  of  mine. 
She  keeps  her  own  towel  and  drinking  glass  at  her  work 
place.  Thus  she  protects  both  herself  and  others  and 
when  she  has  a  cold  "keeps  her  germs  to  herself." 

Some  people  are  nervous  for  fear  a  cold  may  "run 


into"  tuberculosis.  This  will  not  happen  unless  the  pa- 
tient already  has  or  acquires  the  germs  of  tuberculosis. 
But  anyone  who  lets  a  cold  go  with  no  special  care  or 
attention  is  likely  to  become  so  "run  down"  that  he  is 
just  ready  to  give  a  chance  to  any  germ  that  happens 
to  come  his  way. 

For  a  person  with  a  really  severe  cold,  there  is  just 
one  suitable  place  and  that  is  his  or  her  bed,  in  a  well- 
aired,  but  not  draughty  room.  Rest,  hot  drinks  and  a 
thorough  clearing  out  of  the  bowels  will  often  "break" 


134  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

a  cold  in  its*  early  stages.  Self -dosing  however,  is  un- 
wise, as  what  seems  a  cold  may  be  the  beginning  of  a 
very  different  illness.  The  recent  influenza  epidemics 
have  taught  us  all  a  wholesome  respect  for  the  "colds'' 
which  we  used  to  consider  so  unimportant. 

Some  people,  in  spite  of  living  according  to  the  best 
health  rules,  are  constantly  troubled  with  colds.  This 
is  often  due  to  some  wrong  shape  or  some  growth  in 
the  nose  or  throat.  Such  nose  and  throat  troubles  often 
cause  an  inflammation  to  run  from  the  throat,  up  the  tube 
which  leads  to  the  ear,  causing  deafness  or  very  dangerous 
disease  of  the  inner  ear,  close  to  the  brain. 

Many  people  have  to  work  in  dusty  rooms  filled  with 
floating  bits  of  cotton,  wool,  or  other  substances.  Now,  if 
such  workers  have  infected  "pockets"  in  the  nose  or 
throat,  due  to  some  stoppage  in  the  passage,  they  are 
almost  certain  to  have  bad  colds,  if  not  something  worse. 
How  much  wiser  it  would  be  if  every  boy  and  girl,  before 
starting  to  work,  had  a  thorough  overhauling  by  a  doctor, 
so  that  such  troubles  might  be  discovered  and  cured. 

COLDS— HOW  TO  CATCH  AND  HOW  TO  AVOID  THEM 

John  Smith  walked  to  work  in  the  rain  without  overshoes  and  sat  at 
his  desk  all  day  with  wet  feet.  John  Brown  worked  all  day  in  a  lumber 
camp,  getting  logs  into  the  river,  wet  to  the  knees.  Explain  what  happened 
in  John  Smith's  body  to  give  him  a  "cold."  Show  why  the  same  thing  did 
not  happen  to  John  Brown. 

What  does  the  doctor  mean  when  he  speaks  of  a  congestion  due  to 
exposure  to  cold  or  wet? 

Show  how  a  daily  cold  shower  or  plunge  bath  might  be  helpful  in 
warding  off  colds. 

Why  is  it  hurtful  to  sit  in  a  draft,  but  very  helpful  to  sleep  out  doors 
if  properly  protected? 


COLDS  135 

Why  do  colds  run  through  a  fainily  or  a  school?  And  why  will  some 
children  not  "catch"  them? 

What  things  can  you  de  to  keep  your  germs  to  yourself  and  at  the 
same  time  avoid  other  people's? 

If  you  feel  yourself  catching  cold  what  is  the  sensible  treatment 
to  give  yourself? 

What  would  be  the  advantage  to  you  of  having  a  thorough  physical 
examination  by  a  good  doctor  before  starting  to  work? 


CLOTHING 

"CLOTHES  make  the  man"  is  true  in  more  senses  than 
one.  In  the  first  place,  strangers  are  impressed  in  our 
favor  or  take  a  dislike  to  us  for  very  trivial  reasons. 
One  of  these  reasons  is  our  clothing. 

I  remember  once  sitting  in  the  waiting  room  of  a 
busy  man  who  had  advertised  for  a  stenographer.  Three 
applicants  were  in  the  room  when  the  employer  opened 
the  door,  gave  one  glance  around,  and  beckoned  one  of 
the  girls.  A  few  moments  later  she  was  given  the  posi- 
tion and  the  others,  disappointed,  left. 

When  I  asked  this  gentleman  how  he  had  been  able 
to  pick  out  the  right  girl  so  quickly,  he  smiled  and  said, 
"I  looked  at  three  things,  her  shoes,  her  hair  and  her 
dress.  The  girls  in  my  office  must  be  sensible,  neat  and 
refined.  Now  of  the  three  girls  who  applied  for  this 
position,  one  was  wearing  high-heeled  patent-leather 
pumps  and  thin  silk  stockings,  without  rubbers.  It  was 
a  snowy,  February  day,  but  she  had  bought  a  spring  hat 
with  the  money  that  should  have  gone  for  rubbers  to 
keep  her  from  being  ill.  I  decided  that  she  had  not  sense 
enough  to  be  my  stenographer. 

"The  second  girl  had  on  what  was  once  her  best  dress, 
but  was  now  soiled.  It  was  entirely  too  fussy  a  dress 
for  office  wear.  Her  hair  was  done  in  an  enormous  bun 
over  each  ear  and  a  mass  of  frizzes  on  top.  Her  dotted 
veil  was  broken  just  over  her  nose,  which  poked  through, 
giving  a  very  odd  effect,  I  knew,  at  a  glance,  that  she 

136 


CLOTHING 


137 


was  neither  tidy  nor  refined,  for  a  really  ladylike  girl 
doesn't  wear  fussy  clothes,  or  do  her  hair  in  a  ball-room 
style  when  she  is  at  work. 

' '  The  third  girl  wore  old,  but  well-blacked  shoes  with 
low  heels,  on  which  she  could  stand  a  long  time  without 


tiring.  Her  plain  brown  suit  was  also  rather  old,  but  it 
fitted  prettily,  and  was  perfectly  clean.  So  was  the 
shirtwaist  that  showed  beneath  it. 

"Her  hair — for  I  asked  her  to  take  off  her  hat  while 
I  dictated  to  her — was  simply,  but  very  becomingly  ar- 
ranged. It  looked  like  a  head,  not  like  an  outlandish 


138  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

sort  of  bird's-nest,  such  as  some  girls  seem  to  admire. 

"So  I  judged  that  she  was  a  sensible,  neat,  nice  girl, 
with  good  taste  and  good  manners,  and  that  is  just  as 
important  to  me  as  to  have  a  girl  that  can  take 
fast  dictation." 

If  everyone  who  went  hunting  work  could  only  realize 
how  much  difference  clothes — not  expensive  clothes,  but 
neat,  suitable  clothes — make! 

And  as  clothes  make  a  difference  in  getting  work,  so 
also  they  make  a  difference  in  keeping  it.  Of  course 
not  many  people  are  actually  discharged  because  they 
dress  untidily,  but  many  lose  their  work  because  their 
clothing  does  not  help  to  keep  them  in  the  best  of  health. 

I  have  spoken  already  about  the  bad  effects  of  wrong 
shoes.  Every  worker  should  also  realize  that  his  work 
suffers  from  any  article  of  clothing  that  binds  or  cramps 
him.  For  instance,  I  have  known  boys  to  wear  their 
belts  so  tight  that  it  really  injured  them. 

" Bound"  garters  press  on  the  large  blood  vessels 
under  the  knee  and  are  bad  for  the  circulation.  Corsets, 
unless  worn  very  loose,  prevent  the  chest  from  expand- 
ing so  that  the  lungs  can  fill  with  air.  Shoes  laced  too 
tightly  check  the  blood  supply  to  the  feet  and  make  the 
feet  cold. 

Our  ideal  should  be  to  wear  clothing  as  well-fitting, 
comfortable,  suitable  and  beautiful  as  the  fur  and  feath- 
ers that  the  other  animals  are  so  kindly  provided  with. 

One  cannot  lay  down  hard  and  fast  rules  for  another. 
Some  people  require  more  clothing  than  others,  but 
everyone  should  beware  of  dressing  too  heavily  indoors. 
The  skin  needs  air. 


CLOTHING 


139 


Another  thing  to  remember  is  that  the  weight  of  the 
garments  should  hang  from  the  shoulder,  at  the  place 
where  it  joins  the  neck.  If  you  ever  saw  a  Dutch  milk- 
maid, you  know  that  the  wooden  yoke  to  which  the  pails 
are  hung,  fits  snugly  over  her  shoulders,  so  that  the 
weight  falls  on  this  strongest  part  of  the  shoulder. 


If  the  pull  of  the  garment,  or  of  the  suspenders,  does 
not  come  in  the  right  place,  the  shoulders  may  be  pulled 
forward  so  that  they  become  rounded.  So  try  to  buy 
suspenders  that  are  free  from  this  fault, 

As  we  said  before,  no  one  can  make  absolute  rules 
for  another,  but  most  people  find  cotton  underwear  much 
more  satisfactory  than  wool.  Cotton  does  not  shrink 
when  washed.  It  absorbs  perspiration.  It  does  not 
' i  scratch"  the  skin  as  wool  does.  It  can  be  easily  washed 
and  dries  quickly. 

The  last  advantage  is  a  great  one,  for  underwear 
absorbs  the  perspiration  and  with  it  all  the  oil  and  waste 
from  the  skin,  so  that  two  fresh  suits  of  underwear  a 


140 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


week  are  not  too  many  for  anyone.  If  one  is  perspiring 
very  much,  either  from  one's  work  or  because  of  the 
weather,  he  really  should  change  his  underwear  every 
day.  With  thin  cotton  things,  this  is  easily  done.  Any 


girl  or  boy  can  rinse  out  his  or  her  undervest  at  night 
and  put  it  on  clean  and  dry  in  the  morning.  Every 
night  the  clothes  should  be  well  aired. 

I  suppose  those  who  have  never  worked  in  a  factory 
do  not  realize  that  unsuitable  clothes  are  not  merely 
foolish  but  actually  dangerous.  If  you  talk  with  any 


CLOTHING  141 

foreman  whose  factory  has  big  fly-wheels  and  other  open 
machinery,  he  will  tell  you  of  many  an  accident  due  to 
clothing.  Sometimes  it  is  a  pair  of  high  heels  that  sud- 
denly turn  the  ankle  of  their  wearer  and  throw  her  a- 
gainst  the  moving  machinery.  Sometimes  it  is  a  flowing 
sleeve,  the  ripped  and  hanging  ruffle  from  a  skirt,  or 
a  flying  apron  string  that  catches  in  the  moving  belt  or 
wheel  and  causes  a  terrible  accident. 

In  many  factories  and  machine  shops,  the  workers 
are  all  warned  to  wear  no  flowing  ends  to  their  clothing, 
and  the  girls  all  wear  caps,  so  that  their  hair  may  be  safe. 

In  other  places,  where  poisonous  materials  are  hand- 
led, the  management  provides  the  workers  with  wash 
suits  which  are  washed  and  changed  frequently.  It  is 
very  dangerous  to  wear  day  after  day  a  suit  that  is  full 
of  particles  of  poisonous  dust. 

Of  course  every  natural  human  being  wants  to  wear 
clothes  that  he  thinks  pretty  or  becoming.  I  have  read 
that  the  Fuegian  natives  paint  their  bodies  red  and  yel- 
low as  a  sign  of  friendship,  white  in  time  of  war,  and 
wear  black  paint  just  as  we  wear  mourning.  Doubtless 
their  paint  seems  as  beautiful  to  them  as  an  artistic 
gown  does  to  us. 

If  you  travel  through  Europe,  you  will  find  that  the 
peasants  of  one  province  wear  one  costume,  all  on  the 
same  pattern  and  the  peasants  of  another  province  wear 
another.  Among  people  who  have  travelled  and  seen 
the  world,  it  is  no  longer  the  custom  for  everyone  to  wear 
the  same  costume — each  one  follows  his  own  taste.  As  the 
years  go  by  people  are  getting  to  realize,  more  and  more, 
how  silly  it  is  for  everyone  to  wear  the  same  style  clothes, 


142  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

and  you  find  women,  and  even  men,  wearing  whatever 
they  think  most  pretty  and  becoming.  " Style"  is  no 
longer  a  hard  and  fixed  thing  that  everyone  must  follow. 
"Clothes  make  the  man,"  but  we  can  so  choose  our 
clothes  that  they  shall  make  us  healthy,  attractive  and 
ready  to  work  easily  and  well. 

CLOTHING 

Tomorrow,  watch  the  people  you  see  going  to  and  coming  from  work. 
Describe  a  girl  and  a  boy  you  have  seen  who  were  unsuitably  clad  for 
work  downtown.  Describe  the  costume  of  a  boy  and  a  girl  suitably  dressed 
for  work. 

Make  out  a  shopping  list  for  yourself  of  clothes  you  would  need,  to 
be  well  dressed  for  work  in  all  weather. 

Make  a  list  of  some  ways  in  which  our  clothes  might  interfere  with 
our  health,  because  of  fit  or  cut.  What  better  forms  of  clothing  could 
be  used  in  place  of  the  faulty  garments? 

Make  a  table  comparing  cotton  and  wool  as  material  for  undergarments. 

What  care  must  be  taken  of  undergarments,  to  keep  the  owner  fresh 
and  neat? 

If  you  were  going  to  work  in  a  factory  what  chance  of  accident  might 
you  run  through  badly  selected  clothes?  How  do  some  companies  try 
to  protect  their  employees  and  themselves  from  such  accidents? 

Get  some  very  old  magazines  if  you  can.  Get  also,  some  illustrated 
history  books  and  examine  the  clothes  of  the  people  shown.  Do  you  think 
any  of  these  clothes  are  beautiful?  Stylish?  What,  then,  do  you  think 
beauty  is?  Style? 

Why  do  we  think  Nature's  costumes  for  birds  and  animals  beautiful  ? 

How  could  you  increase  the  beauty  of  your  own  costume  without  spending 
more  money?  What  would  you  need  instead  of  elaborate  or  expen- 
sive materials? 

Go  downtown,  and  from  the  shop  windows,  select  a  costume  suitable  for 
a  girl's  every  day  wear,  which  is  beautiful,  durable  and  appropriate 
and  within  a  price  reasonably  agreed  upon.  Describe  it  to  your  companions 
and  discuss  with  th«m  your  judgment. 

Of  what  value  is  it  to  you  to  be  able  to  choose  suitable  clothes 
for  yourself  ? 


"CATCHING"  DISEASES 


IN  talking  about  colds,  I  said  that  they  were  usually 
"caught"  from  another  person  and  were  due  to  germs. 
Most  people  have  a  very  vague  idea  about  germs  and 
how  they  travel,  the  popular  opinion  seeming1  to  be  that 
they  float  around  in  the  air  and  are  breathed  by  some 
unfortunate  person,  who  immediately  falls  ill. 

The  truth  is  that  the  seeds 
of  disease  which  we  call 
"germs"  do  sometimes  float  a 
short  distance  in  the  air,  espe- 
cially in  such  work-rooms  as 
are  filled  with  dust  and  floating 
bits  of  wood  or  lint  on  which 
the  germs  can  ride,  as  it  were. 


Usually,  however,  germs  travel  in  one  of  three  ways. 
They  are  very  often  "handed  on"  directly  from  one 
person  to  another.  This  happens  when  you  give  the 
baby  your  sore  throat  by  kissing  her.  Some  of  the  germs 
from  your  mouth  are  transferred  to  hers.  Or  perhaps 
you  drink  from  a  cup  that  has  just  been  used  by  some- 
one who  is  coming  down  with  diphtheria,  and  who  has  left 
some  germs  on  the  edge  of  the  cup.  Maybe  you  wipe 
your  mouth  with  the  towel  where  a  consumptive  has  left 
the  germs  of  tuberculosis,  from 'his  mouth. 

If  you  stop  to  think  of  it,  we  are  all  constantly  wet- 
ting things  with  our  saliva.  We  lick  postage  stamps. 
Many  people  wet  their  thumbs  when  they  turn  pages  of 

143 


144 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


a  book.  We  keep  putting  our  fingers  to  our  mouths  and 
nostrils  and  then  handling  all  sorts  of  objects  that  others 
handle  after  us,  such  as  door-knobs,  faucets,  stair-rails, 
car-straps,  counters  and  desks.  In  this  way,  germs 
from  diseased  mouths  and  noses  continually  pass  to 
other  mouths  and  noses. 


What  can  we  do  about  it?  One  thing  that  we  can 
do  is  to  break  ourselves  of  the  habit  of  putting  our  hands 
near  our  mouths  and  noses.  A  doctor  once  told  me  that 
if  children  could  be  taught  to  keep  their  hands  away  from 
their  noses  and  mouths,  at  least  half  of  their  illnesses 
would  be  avoided. 


"CATCHING"  DISEASES 


145 


Another  thing  that  we  can  do  is  never  to  use  a  public 
towel.  Every  worker  should,  if  paper  towels  are  not 
provided,  carry  his  own  towel  from  home.  It  is  better 
to  wipe  your  hands  on  a  clean  handkerchief,  or  even'  to 
wave  them  about  until  they  dry,  than  to  risk  catching 
the  germ  of  some  serious  disease  by  using  a  public  towel. 

I  remember  once  sitting  in  a 
railroad  station  for  half  an  hour 
and  watching  the  people  who 
drank  from  a  common  cup.  There 
was  one  young  man  with  a  racking 
cough,  another  with  horrible 
sores  on  his  lips,  and  a  third  who 
drank  and  drank  as  if  he  were  in 
a  fever,  and  from  his  flushed 
cheeks  I  imagine  he  was.  And 
right  after  these  people  came  a  I 
beautiful  girl  who  drank  and  then 
put  the  cup  to  the  lips  of  her  baby  brother. 

When  travelling  I  always  carry  a  few  paper  cups,  or 
even  make  a  passable  sort  of  cup  by  sealing  a  clean 
envelope  and  then  cutting  off  one  end.  You  will  find 
that  you  can  drink  from  it  very  well.  But  it  is  far 
better  to  go  thirsty  than  to  use  a  common  cup  or  glass. 

Germs,  besides  travelling  by  means  of  kisses,  coughs, 
sneezes  and  via  towels,  handkerchiefs,  cups,  hands,  and 
so  forth,  travel  in  food,  milk  and  water. 

Food  sometimes  gathers  germs  from  a  dirty  cook 
or  waitress  who  does  not  wash  her  hands,  or  from  a  care- 
less person  who  eats  with  unwashed  hands.     Often,  too, 
germs  are  carried  on  the  feet  of  flies,  which  travel  from 
10 


146 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


"CATCHING"  DISEASES  147 

every  sort  of  filth  straight  to  the  bakery,  grocery,  kitchen 
and  restaurant. 

Milk  sometimes  comes  from  diseased  cattle,  but  it 
is  more  likely  to  get  germs  through  careless  handling 
during  its  journey  from  the  cow  to  you.  Milkers  are 
often  dirty  and  careless.  Milk  cans  are  not  always  clean 
and  milk  that  is  sold  "loose"  from  an  open  can  in  the 
grocery  or  milk  store 
has  a  good  chance  to 
catch  all  sorts  of  dust 
and  germs. 

Nowadays,  when 
food  is  so  expensive, 
some  people  may  ,5*- 

say  that  they  cannot  afford  to  be  fussy.  But  it 
is  not  "fussy"  to  demand  clean  food,  since  unclean  food 
is  actually  dangerous. 

And  really,  it  is  quite  possible  to  find  a  cheap,  but 
clean  grocery  and  meat  market,  and  cheap  restaurants 
where  the  flies  are  kept  out,  the  dishes  and  glasses  are 
clean  and  the  waiters  are  reasonably  neat.  Besides,  it 
is  certainly  cheaper  to  pay  five  cents  more  for  your  lunch- 
eon than  to  fall  ill  of  typhoid  or  some  other  disease  that 
comes  from  eating  germs  from  other  people's  bodies.  Put 
in  that  way,  it  sounds  rather  disgusting,  but  it  is  disgust- 
ing, and  we  should  all  be  so  disgusted  that  we  would 
refuse  to  do  it! 

A  third  way  in  which  germs  travel  is  in  the  bodies 
of  certain  insects  and  animals. 

Malaria,  which  used  to  be  blamed  on  "night  air," 
is,  as  we  now  know,  caused  by  a  germ  which  travels  ill 


148  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

the  bodies  of  certain  kinds  of  mosquitoes.  Yellow  fever 
travels  in  the  same  way,  through  another  sort  of  mosquito. 
The  germ  is  in  the  blood  of  a  fever  patient.  The  mos- 
quito, biting  the  sufferer,  sucks  in  the  germ  with  the 
blood.  Later,  the  same  mosquito  bites  someone  else 
and  plants  the  germ  in  the  wound. 

The  plague  is  carried  in  the  same  way  by  the  bite  of 
fleas  from  rats,  and  typhus  fever  by  the  bite  of  the  body 
louse.  You  may  have  read  how  the  typhus  raged  in 
Serbia  until  the  Red  Cross  bathed  the  whole  population 
and  so  rid  them  of  vermin  and  stamped  out  the  typhus. 

In  this  whole  matter  of  catching  diseases,  every 
worker  has  two  duties — to  protect  himself  and  to  pro- 
tect others. 

It  would  be  a  good  plan  if  every  work-room  would 
post  up  a  set  of  rules  something  like  this : 

PKOTECT    YOUBSELP 

by 

Using  your  own  glass,  soap  and  towel 
Keeping  hands  away  from  your  mouth  and 

nose 

Washing  hands  after  going  to  toilet  and  al- 
ways before  eating 

PEOTECT    OTHERS 

by 

Sneezing,  coughing  and  spitting  only  into 

your  handkerchief 
Obeying  quarantine  laws 
Being  cleanly  in  all  your  habits 
If  every  worker  would  bear  in  mind  these  few  rules, 


"CATCHING"  DISEASES  149 

our  work-rooms  and  factories  would  be  much  healthier, 
happier  places. 

CATCHING  DISEASES 

Make  a  list  of  all  the  ways  by  which  germs  can  travel  from  person 
to  person.  Which  of  these  ways  have  you  seen  in  school  ?  In  places  where 
people  are  at  work?  At  home?  When  travelling?  What  habits  have 
you  which  expose  you  to  germs  in  any  of  these  ways  ?  What  habits  have  you 
which  expose  others  to  your  germs  ? 

How  could  a  careless  cook  let  germs  get  into  good  food?  What  changes 
in  her  habits  should  she  make? 

Why  are  flies  the  worst  source  of  danger  to  food  ?  What  ways  have 
we  of  preventing  their  destructiveness  ? 

Find  out  what  care  is  taken  of  milk  known  as  "certified?"  Why  are 
these  precautions  thought  necessary?  What  care  of  milk  do  you  take  after 
it  enters  your  home? 

How  will  you  judge  if  the  restaurant  where  you  eat  your  lunch,  is  clean? 
What  do  you  expect  of  a  "clean"  restaurant,  as  to  food,  service,  surroundings  ? 

Why  did  the  government  have  to  spend  millions  of  dollars  gettting  rid 
of  all  mosquitoes,  before  it  could  build  the  Panama  Canal? 

How  did  the  Red  Cross  check  the  spread  of  typhus  fever  in  Serbia? 
Why  was  this  method  effective? 

For  what  health  reasons  should  we  destroy  rats  and  mice? 

State  the  rules,  for  protecting  yourself  and  others,  given  in  this  chapter. 
Try  to  state  why  each  is  given  to  you. 


150 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


THE  DUPLESSIS  PORTRAIT  OF  FRANKLIN 

"At  my  first  admission  into  the  printing  house, — I  drank  only  water;  the 
other  men,  near  fifty  in  number,  were  great  drinkers  of  beer.  On  one  occasion 
1  earned  up  and  down  stairs  a  large  form  of  types  in  each  hand,  while  others 
carried  but  one  form  in  both  hands.  They  wondered  at  this  and  several  in- 
stances, that  the  Water  American,  as  they  called  me,  was  stronger  than  them- 
selves who  drank  beer." 

Benjamin  Franklin's  Autobiography. 


ALCOHOL  AND  TOBACCO 

AT  one  time,  I  lived  next  door  to  a  large  railroad  yard. 
My  window  looked  right  out  on  the  tracks,  and  I  often 
watched  the  train  hands  going  to  and  fro  about  their  work. 

I  became  so  interested  in  them  that  I  was  very  sorry 
when  a  saloon  was  opened,  close  by  the  yard  gate,  where 
the  men  had  to  pass  in  coming  to  and  from  their 
work.  "Now  a  lot  of  the  men  will  be  getting  drunk," 
I  said,  "and  that  will  mean  not  only  trouble  for  them, 
but  for  their  families,  and  perhaps  some  serious  rail- 
road accidents." 

The  man  to  whom  I  said  this  was  a  clerk  in  the  office 
of  the  railroad.  He  shook  his  head  vigorously.  "No 
they  won't,"  he  answered.  "They  all  know  that  it  is 
a  rule  of  our  railroad  that  any  man  found  drinking  is 
1  fired'  on  the  spot.  You  see,  railroading  is  too  ticklish 
a  business  for  half-men  to  be  trusted,  and  a  man  who 
drinks  is  only  a  half -man.  His  hand  is  unsteady,  his 
eyes  and  ears  are  dulled,  his  brain  is  half-awake.  Such 
a  man  can't  be  trusted  to  test  brakes  and  wheels,  to  oil 
or  to  water  the  engine  properly.  Much  less  can  he  be 
trusted  to  serve  as  engineer.  He  might  fail  to  see  a 
danger  signal  and  wreck  a  whole  trainfull  of  people. 
No,  indeed,  the  railroad  stopped  several  years  ago  hiring 
men  who  love  liquor  better  than  their  job." 

I  often  thought  of  that  conversation  afterward,  espe- 
cially when  the  war  came  and  brought  prohibition  with 
it.  The  war  made  it  clear,  once  for  all,  that  "half -men" 
cannot  be  successful  soldiers.  For  years,  scientists  had 

151 


152  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

been  experimenting  and  students  had  been  digging  up 
statistics,  to  show  what  alcohol  does  to  men  and  women. 

They  had  proved  that  it  weakens  the  heart.  They 
had  shown  that  it  hardens  the  tissues  of  the  body.  They 
had  demonstrated  that  it  makes  the  whole  body  less  able 
to  resist  the  germs  of  disease,  that  it  weakens  the  memory, 
power  of  attention  and  general  control  of  the  muscles 
and  nerves.  They  had  proved  these  things  for  anyone 
who  was  willing  to  read  and  listen. 

And,  as  I  have  said,  many  employers  of  large  num- 
bers of  men  had  made  it  a  rule  not  to  hire  those  who 
drank,  because  they  did  poor  work  and  often  caused 
accidents,  for  which  the  employer  was  obliged,  by  law, 
to  pay. 

But  it  was  the  war  that  suddenly  brought  every  sane 
man  face  to  face  with  these  facts.  If  we  wanted  to  win 
the  war,  we  must  have  whole  men,  not  half-men,  not  men 
who  were  only  fifty  per  cent,  efficient. 

And  so  the  constitutional  amendment  was  passed,  be- 
cause, if  the  nation  needed  the  best  possible  soldiers 
to  win  the  war,  she  also  needed  the  best  possible  men  in 
the  time  of  peace.  She  needs  men  whose  bodies  are 
strong,  whose  nerves  are  steady,  who^e  brains  are  keen 
and  alert. 

It  is  too  soon  yet  to  quote  figures  as  to  the  good  that 
has  come  from  this  banishing  of  alcohol,  but  indications 
from  all  over  the  country  seem  to  show  that  people  are 
healthier,  richer,  happier,  that  there  are  less  crimes  and 
fewer  accidents. 

In  the  beginning,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  silly  talk, 
which  the  brewers  and  saloon  keepers  kept  repeating, 


ALCOHOL  AND  TOBACCO  153 

about  the  unwillingness  of  men  to  work  without  liquor. 
It  was  said  that  the  workers  would  "walk  out"  in  a  body 
and  that  no  work  would  be  done.  "No  beer,  no  work," 
was  the  motto;  which  the  liquor  dealers  adopted.  But 
so  far  from  the  workers  striking,  because  they  had  no 
beer,  they  went  quietly  on,  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
The  saloons  have  been  turned  into  restaurants  or  shops, 
and  the  money  that  used  to  be  spent  on  liquor  to  make 
men  poorer  workers  is  going  for  things  which  will  make 
them  stronger,  happier,  and  better  workers. 

Of  course,  you  will  always  meet  people  who  insist 
that  if  a  man  wants  to  injure  his  health  he  has  a  right 
to  do  so.  But  these  people  forget  that  a  man's  children 
have  a  right  to  a  decent  father,  who  will  support  them, 
and  that  the  city  which  gives  a  man  police  and  fire  protec- 
tion, lighted  streets,  pure  water,  free  libraries,  and  count- 
less other  privileges,  has  a  right  to  sober,  decent,  public- 
spirited  citizens. 

Just  as  every  soldier  felt  it  his  duty  to  be  as  strong, 
healthy  and  fit  as  possible,  that  he  might  help  to  win 
the  war  and  save  the  world  from  German  militarism,  so 
every  worker  must  realize  that  it  is  his  duty  to  be  as 
healthy  as  possible,  so  that  he  may  be  a  useful,  productive 
citizen — a  soldier,  not  a  slacker,  in  the  army  of  progress 
and  industry. 

The  tobacco  problem  is  one  on  which  people  are  not 
yet  so  well  informed  or  so  convinced  as  on  the  alcohol 
question.  Yet  a  very  little  reading  and  thought  on  the 
subject  will  convince  anyone — that  is,  anyone  who  has 
not  already  made  up  his  mind — that  tobacco  is  an  enemy 
to  good  work. 


154  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

Of  course,  tobacco  is  not  so  immediately  dangerous  as 
alcohol,  but,  like  alcohol,  it  is  one  of  the  things  that  dull  a 
man's  tools  and  injure  him  as  a  worker  and  a  thinker. 

Tobacco  and  tobacco  smoke  contain  powerful  poi- 
sons. The  deadliest  of  these  is  nicotin,  two  drops  of 
which  on  the  tongue  of  a  dog  will  kill  him. 

Of  course  some  poisons,  such  as  arsenic  and  lauda- 
num, may  be  useful  as  medicine,  under  the  doctor's 
orders,  but  tobacco  has  never  been  listed  among  these 
medical  poisons,  and  no  doctor  prescribes  it.  It  is  clear 
that  it  does  no  good  to  the  smoker,  except  for  the  pleasure 
he  may  get  from  it. 

Now  what  does  the  smoker  pay  for  this  pleasure? 
Apart  from  the  money  he  pays,  which  is  often  a  great 
deal  more  than  he  can  afford,  he  pays  in  both  bodily  and 
mental  strength. 

Tobacco  affects  the  heart,  making  it  beat  weakly  and 
irregularly.  It  weakens  the  lungs.  The  smoke  irritates 
the  throat  and  makes  it  sore  and  this  may  extend  to  the 
ear  and  affect  the  hearing.  It  stains  the  teeth.  It  weak- 
ens the  nerves.  It  upsets  the  stomach.  It  acts  on  your 
body  machinery  as  a  handful  of  sand  might  act  on  a 
dynamo — it  throws  it  "out  of  gear"  pretty  completely. 

Of  course  anyone  can,  at  once,  point  to  two  or  three 
men  of  his  acquaintance  who  smoke,  and  seem  to  be  in 
fair  health.  Probably  these  men  are  naturally  very 
strong,  but  there  is  no  telling-  how  much  stronger  they 
might  be  without  tobacco.  And  certainly  no  one  can 
point  to  an  invalid  who  was  made  strong  by  smoking, 
whereas  we  all  know  many  who  have  been  injured  by  it. 


ALCOHOL  AND  TOBACCO  155 

Besides,  the  way  to  prove  anything  is  not  by  separate 
cases,  but  by  a  large  number  of  cases,  where  one  can 
arrive  at  an  average. 

This  was  done  by  a  Professor  Pack,  who  compared, 
in  six  colleges  and  schools,  the  students  who  tried  to  get 
on  the  football  team.  There  were  210  students  who 
competed  for  the  honor,  of  whom  ninety-three  smoked 
and  117  did  not.  Of  the  210  students,  110  were  chosen — 
thirty-one  being  smokers  and  seventy-nine  non-smokers. 
In  other  words,  among  the  smokers,  two  thirds  failed,  and 
among  the  non-smokers,  more  than  two  thirds  succeeded ! 

The  same  thing  is  evident  when  we  consider  not 
strength  of  body,  but  strength  and  alertness  of  mind. 
If  a  number  of  smokers  are  compared  with  a  number 
of  non-smokers,  the  smokers  always  show  poorer  marks 
in  their  studies,  as  one  would  naturally  expect,  since 
the  body  and  the  mind  must  work  together. 

Many  employers  realize  so  fully  the  bad  effects  of 
tobacco,  especially  on  young  people,  that  they  will  not 
employ  a  boy  who  smokes,  and  it  is  a  very  common  rule 
that  employees  shall  not  smoke  during  working  hours. 
Many  a  boy  has  failed  to  "land"  a  job  because  of  the 
tell-tale  stains  on  his  fingers.  Many  a  boy  has  lost  his 
place  because  he  weakened  himself  with  cigarettes. 

Alcohol  and  tobacco  are  enemies  to  the  worker,  because 
they  dull  or  destroy  the  tools  which  Nature  has  given 
him  to  earn  his  living.  They  are  enemies  to  society 
because  they  rob  the  world  of  useful,  capable  men.  They 
are  enemies  to  America,  because  they  would  make  her 
a  nation  of  weaklings,  instead  of  a  nation  of  sturdy  heroes. 


156  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

ALCOHOL  AND   TOBACCO 

Even  before  prohibition,  how  did  most  of  the  great  railroads  show  their 
belief  in  the  harmfulness  of  alcohol? 

Science  has  proven  that  alcohol  harms  us  in  five  ways.     Name  them. 

What  does  your  chapter  mean  by  a  "half-man?"  What  positions  can 
you  name  in  which  such  "half -men"  would  be  dangerous? 

Discuss  the  rights  of  a  man  to  drink  compared  with  the  rights  of 
his  children,  his  city  and  his  employers  to  have  him  sober.  Which  rights 
do  you  think  are  stronger? 

How  does  the  use  of  alcohol  interfere  with  a  man's  performance  of 
his  duty  as  a  soldier?  A  good  citizen? 

This  chapter  describes  the  injury  done  to  six  parts  of  your  body  by  the 
use  of  tobacco  in  youth.  How  does  it  injure  each  of  these  parts? 

Use  Professor  Pack's  figures  on  smokers  and  non-smokers  trying  for  a 
foot-ball  team.  With  them,  make  a  talk  that  will  convince  a  boy  that 
smoking  is  injurious  to  him.  Find  out  from  the  nearest  big  athletic  team 
what  the  "training"  rules  are,  as  to  tobacco  and  alcohol. 

Is  smoking  ever  a  hindrance  in  getting  a  good  job? 

Make  a  poster  showing  how  alcohol  and  tobacco  are  enemies.  What 
three  reasons  will  you  put  on  it? 


TAKING  CHANCES  AND  TAKING 
CONSEQUENCES 

IT  is  not  surprising  that,  as  we  said  in  the  last  chap- 
ter, men  who  are  only  half -men,  because  they  are  weak- 
ened by  stimulants  and  narcotics,  should  meet  with 
accidents.  But  it  is  surprising  that  men  who  are  entirely 
sober  and  in  possession  of  their  full  senses  should  meet 
with  as  many  accidents  as  they  do. 

In  the  one  year  of  1916,  the  estimated  accidents,  not 
on  the  streets,  but  in  the  shops,  factories,  mines,  etc.  of 
the  United  States,  amounted  to  3,000,000 — which  means 
about  10,000  on  every  working  day. 

It  was  further  estimated  that  these  accidents  caused 
a  time  loss  of  105,000,000  days.  If  we  count  300  working 
days  to  a  year,  this  makes  a  loss  of  350,000  years !  As 
for  the  wages  lost,  they  would  amount  to  $210,000,000. 

But  not  merely  time  and  money  were  lost,  for  in 
one  year's  accidents,  20,000  men  lost  their  lives.  How 
many  homes  wrecked!  How  many  families  of  children 
left  fatherless,  for  the  community  to  support ! 

And  the  most  amazing  thing  about  this  awful  waste 
of  time,  money,  life  and  happiness,  is  that  most  of  it  is 
quite  unnecessary,  because  most  of  it  is  due  to  someone's 
" taking  a  chance."  There  are  accidents  that  could  not 
have  been  foreseen  or  avoided,  but  most  accidents  are 
due  to  sheer  carelessness.  The  careless  person,  how- 
ever, is  very  often  not  the  one  to  suffer. 

Some  years   ago,   a  certain  firm  of  contractors  in 

157 


158  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

Massachusetts  set  to  work  to  reduce  the  number  of  acci- 
dents among  their  men.  The  machinery,  etc.,  was  made  as 
safe  as  possible,  and  the  men  were,  in  one  way  and  an- 
other, urged  to  be  careful,  and  not  to  'Hake  chances." 

In  the  year  1915,  there  were  399  accidents  for  every 
1000  employees — only  those  accidents  being  counted  that 
were  serious  enough  to  make  the  men  lose  time  from  work. 

The  next  year,  there 
were  303  accidents  for 
every  thousand  men. 

The  next  year  after 
that,  the  men  had  gotten 
into  the  careful  habit,  and 
there  were  only  180 
accidents  for  every  tho'u- 
sand  men. 

A  little  figuring  will  show  you  that  in  two  years,  the 
accidents  had  been  cut  to  less  than  half!  Think  what 
a  saving  to  the  firm,  to  the  workers,  and  to  their  families ! 
A  saving  to  the  nation  too,  for  America  needs  all  the  able- 
bodied  workers  that  she  can  get. 

Of  course  there  are  different  dangers  in  each  trade 
or  sort  of  work,  but  there  are  certain  safety  habits  that 
every  beginner  at  any  sort  of  work  should  form  at  once. 
One  of  these  habits  is  to  make  use  of  every  safety 
device  the  management  provides.  Firms  don't  pay  for 
safety  masks,  goggles,  protectors,  etc.,  just  for  fun. 
They  buy  them  in  order  to  protect  the  men's  lives  and  in 
order  to  protect  themselves  from  having  to  pay  damages 
to  injured  men.  They  would  not  buy  them  unless  they 


TAKING  CHANCES  AND  CONSEQUENCES         159 

were  needed  and  any  worker  who  refuses  to  use  these 
protections  is  not  only  risking  his  own  life,  but  risking 
his  employer's  money  and  often  risking  the  safety  of  all 
those  who  work  with  him.  Therefore  the  first  safety 
habit  is  the  habit  of  using  all  the  protections  provided  by 
the  employer. 

The  second  habit  is  that  of  absolute  obedience  to  rules. 
Rules  are  made  for  the 
safety  and  welfare  of  all. 
In  factories  where  paper 
and  other  inflammable 
material  is  stored,  or 
where  there  is  turpentine 
or  paint,  or  explosives, 
such  as  gasoline,  there  is 
always  a  strict  rule 
against  smoking.  Many  a 
factory  has  been  destroyed 
and  many  lives  sacrificed,  because  some  employee  thought 
he  could  break  this  rule  and  "get  away  with  it." 

In  many  places  there  are  rules  about  touching  moving 
machinery  and  other  rules  against  employees  handling 
machines  of  which  they  are  not  in  charge. 

I  have  a  friend  who  works  in  a  great  shipyard.  She 
told  me  one  day  that  a  boy  of  sixteen,  a  new  worker,  had 
been  killed.  He  had  gone  into  a  part  of  the  yard  where 
he  had  no  business  and  where  he  was  forbidden  to  go 
and  had  stood  close  to  where  a  great  boom  swung  around. 
There  was  a  sign  warning  him  to  keep  away,  and  someone 
shouted  to  him,  but  it  was  too  late.  He  had  broken  a 


160 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


rule  in  order  to  gratify  his  curiosity,  and  he  paid  a 
terrible  penalty. 

His  poor  mother  blamed  "that  awful  shipyard,"  but 
really  the  whole  blame  lay  with  the  boy  who  disobeyed  a 
rule  that  was  made  solely  to  protect  him. 

A  third  safety  habit  is  orderliness.  A  great  many 
workers  have  a  way  of  laying  tools  and  materials  down 

wherever  they  happen  to  be,  and 
then  going  off  and  forgetting  them. 
If  everyone  does  this,  it  means  that 
an  enormous  amount  of  litter  accu- 
mulates, which  furnishes  excellent 
material  for  a  fire,  especially  if  oily 
rags  or  overalls  are  left  about.1 
Moreover,  if  hammers,  boards, 
tool-boxes,  etc.,  are  left  in  halls  and 
passage-ways  between  machines, 
they  offer  obstacles  over  which  the 
unwary  passer  is  liable  to  stumble 
and  a  stumble  against  a  machine 
may  mean  death!  Oil  carelessly  dripped  on  the  floor 
may  cause  a  fall.  Nails  may  pierce  someone's  foot,  and 
in  case  of  fire,  every  object  that  blocks  the  way  for  even 
an  instant  is  an  added  danger. 

The  fourth  habit  that  every  young  worker  should 
form  is  that  of  removing  every  source  of  danger  where  he 
can,  and  reporting  it,  where  he  cannot  remove  it.  By 
this  I  mean  that  everyone,  as  a  loyal  member  of  his 
work-community,  should  make  it  his  business  to  pound 
down  protruding  nails,  pick  up  broken  glass,  and  gener- 
ally clear  away  any  small,  but  dangerous  material. 


TAKING  CHANCES  AND  CONSEQUENCES        161 


11 


162 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


Where  he  finds  a  fire-escape  door  locked,  a  scaffold  un- 
safe, or  a  machine  defective,  he  should  at  once  report  it 
to  someone  in  charge.  Everyone  on  the  force  should 
unite  in  doing  this  for  the  safety  of  all. 

Finally,  I  would  urge  every  young  worker  to  know 
when  and  where  to  indulge  his  high  spirits  and  not  to  start 
" rough-housing"  among  machines,  on  high  places,  with 
sharp  implements,  or  under  any  circumstances  where  the 


Foreign  body  in  eye  (removal). 


Foreign  body  in  eye  (removal). 


play  may  suddenly  end  in  tragedy.  Be  as  cheerful  and 
jolly  as  you  can,  while  you  work,  but  save  your  "fooling" 
for  the  noon  hour  and  do  it  in  a  safe  place. 

In  most  large  stores  and  factories,  there  is  a  nurse 
or  doctor  to  see  to  anyone  who  is  hurt.  If  you  should 
work  where  there  is  no  nurse  or  doctor,  it  will  be  well 
for  you  to  keep  in  your  drawer  or  locker  a  few  simple 
remedies  and  know  how  to  use  them. 

For  slight  cuts,  use  a  ten  per  cent,  solution  of  iodine 
and  cover  with  a  piece  of  clean  gauze  ar  cloth.  If  the 
cut  is  severe,  get  a  doctor. 

For  a  fainting  fit,  loosen  the  clothing,  lay  the  person 


TAKING  CHANCES  AND  CONSEQUENCES          163 

flat  on  his  or  her  back,  give  plenty  of  air  and,  if  the  person 
does  not  quickly  "come  to,"  give  one  half  teaspoonful 
of  aromatic  spirits  of  ammonia  in  one  half  glass  of  water, 
and  send  for  a  doctor. 

For  a  raw  or  blistered  burn,  coat  with  oil — either 
machine,  linseed,  olive,  or  vaseline,  and  cover  with  clean 
cloth.  If  the  burn  is  serious  get  a  doctor. 


Hand  tourniquet  to  control  severe  bleeding. 

These  are  just  a  few  of  the  simple  things  that  any 
worker  can  and  should  do  for  his  fellow  workers,  or  for 
himself  in  case  of  a  slight  accident.  A  serious  accident 
always  needs  a  doctor  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 
Therefore  it  is  well  to  find  out  the  address  of  the  doctor 
nearest  to  your  work-place,  unless  the  firm  employs 
a  physician. 

But  every  young  worker,  and  every  old  one,  if  he  has 
not  yet  done  so,  should  resolve  that  no  accident  shall 
ever  be  due  to  his  carelessness.  The  habit  of  being 
careful  will  make  him  and  his  fellow  workmen  safe.  A 
careless  worker  is  never  really  trusted,  and  when  a  fore- 


164  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

man  is  chosen,  he  is  selected  from  among  the  careful, 
trustworthy  men. 

"It's  better  to  be  safe  than  to  be  sorry,"  and  another 
good  motto  for  the  worker  is,  "If  you  take  a  chance, 
others  may  have  to  take  the  consequences." 

TAKING  CHANCES  AND  TAKING  CONSEQUENCES 

Repeat  the  1916  U.  S.  accident  statistics.     What  do  they  mean  to  you? 

What  are  some  causes  of  these  accidents  ?  Which  is  the  commonest  cause  V 

Write  the  statistics  of  the  Massachusetts  company  on  a  piece  of  paper. 
Make  a  chart  to  show  more  clearly  what  this  means.  Six  inches  apart, 
draw  three  horizontal  lines  twenty  inches  long,  each  inch  corresponding  to 
fifty  men.  (Why  to  fifty?)  To  the  left  of  the  first  line,  write  1915. 
Measure  to  the  right,  on  this  line  the  correct  number  of  inches  to  represent 
the  399  men  injured  that  year.  (How  will  you  find  the  length  of  line?) 
Color  the  line  red.  Do  the  same  for  the  years  1916-17,  1918.  Make  a  title 
for  your  chart  telling  what  it  proves. 

List  five  safety  habits  which  you,  as  a  worker,  ought  to  acquire.  Show 
why  the  second  and  third  are  of  very  great  importance  to  you. 

What  articles  would  you  want  in  a  first  aid  box  to  keep  near  you  at 
your  work.  How  would  you  use  each?  Have  you  practiced  so  you  can 
handle  your  materials  skillfully? 

Recite  two  good  safety-first  mottos. 


THE  CARE  OF  THE  BABY 

IT  is,  of  course,  impossible  within  the  covers  of  one 
book  like  this,  to  speak  of  all  the  different  sorts  of  work 
which  a  boy  or  girl  may  take  up.  But  there  is  one  sort 
of  work  so  important  and  about  which  it  is  so  necessary 
for  everyone  to  know  something,  that  a  few  pages  must 
be  devoted  to  it. 

Whatever  sort  of  work  you  do  or  don't  do,  it  is  prob- 
able that  some  day  you  will  have  to  take  care  of  children. 
Fifteen  out  of  every  sixteen  American  girls  marry,  and 
before  they  do  so  they  should  know  at  least  something 
about  caring  for  babies  and  little  children,  for  the  busi- 
ness of  being  a  parent  is  the  most  important  in  the  world 
and  probably  the  most  neglected. 

I  have  a  friend  who  is  planning  to  move  into  the 
country  and  raise  bees.  She  is  buying  every  book  she 
can  find  that  tells  how  best  to  care  for  bees,  and  she 
buttonholes  every  farmer  she  meets  to  ask  him  whether 
he  keeps  bees  and  can  give  her  any  advice. 

Another  friend  of  mine,  when  her  first  baby  came, 
was  offered  a  book  on  the  care  of  babies;  but  she  said, 
"Oh,  I  think  mothers  know  how  to  bring  up  babies  better 
than  any  old  doctors  can.  I  can  take  care  of  my  baby 
without  any  advice. " 

When  babies  are  so  much  more  precious  than  bees, 
isn't  it  strange  that  one  woman  should  take  so  much 
pains  to  prepare  herself  for  being  a  successful  bee-raiser, 
while  another  should  take  no  pains  at  all  to  learn  how  to 
rear  strong,  good  babies? 

165 


166  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

The  fact  is  that,  if  we  ever  did  have  any  instinct  about 
taking  care  of  our  babies,  such  as  the  animals  have  about 
caring  for  theirs,  civilization  has  trained  it  out  of  us. 
We  need  to  be  taught  the  business  of  parenthood  just  as 
we  need  to  be  taught  any  other  trade. 

Probably  the  thing  that  chiefly  affects  the  baby's 
health  is  his  food.  Little  babies  should  always,  if  possi- 
ble, be  nursed  by  their  mothers ;  it  gives  them  five  times  as 
many  chances  to  live  as  if  they  were  fed  on  the  bottle. 
However,  this  is  not  always  possible,  and  in  that  case 
one  should  consult  a  good  doctor  and  get  exact  directions 
for  preparing  the  milk — " modifying"  it,  as  the  doctors 
say,  to  suit  the  baby 's  needs.  What  suits  your  neighbor 's 
baby,  may  be  the  death  of  yours. 

Having  learned  how  to  modify  the  milk,  it  is  necessary 
to  keep  the  bottles  absolutely  clean.  After  use,  they 
should  be  rinsed  in  cold  water,  scrubbed  with  hot  soap- 
suds, rinsed  again  and  then  boiled  for  fifteen  minutes. 
This  will  kill  any  germs  that  may  be  lurking  in  them. 
The  rubber  tops  should  be  rinsed  in  cold  water,  rubbed 
with  salt  inside  and  out,  boiled  five  minutes  and  then  kept 
in  a  clean,  covered  jar  until  they  are  used  again.  This 
may  seem  a  lot  of  trouble,  but  it  isn't  half  so  much  trouble 
or  worry  as  having  a  sick  baby. 

When  the  baby  is  about  a  year  old  and  his  tiny  white 
teeth  begin  to  prick  through  the  gums,  many  parents  make 
the  mistake  of  thinking  he  is  ready  for  regular,  grownup 
food,  and  give  him  a  taste  of  everything  on  the  table. 
This  is  certain  to  ruin  his  digestion,  for  his  stomach  can 
only  gradually  learn  to  make  use  of  solid  food.  He  still 
needs  plenty  of  milk,  but  should  be  given  cereals  very 


THE  CARE  OF  THE  BABY 


167 


thoroughy  cooked  and  strained  through  a  sieve,  green 
vegetables  such  as  peas  and  spinach  mashed  and  strained, 
the  juice  of  oranges,  the  mashed  pulp  of  prunes,  soft  eggs, 
a  well  mashed  baked  potato.  One  by  one,  these  things 


The  proper  paraphernalia  for  bottle  feeding. 

should  be  added  to  Master  Baby's  menu,  but  do  not  start 
him  on  all  sorts  of  solid  foods  at  once.  All  his  food  should 
be  very  thoroughly  mashed,  as  he  has  not  yet  learned 
to  chew  well.  To  give  him  practice  in  chewing,  and  to 
strengthen  his  teeth,  let  him  have  a  hard  bread-crust  or 


168  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

a  bone,  but  never  give  him  a  lump  of  food  expecting  him 
to  chew  it  up. 

A  baby  that  has  been  sensibly  fed  is  likely  to  grow 
into  a  sturdy,  happy  child ;  while  one  that  has  been  given 
"just  a  taste"  of  whatever  the  grown  folks  are  eating, 
will  become  pale,  fretful,  and  liable,  later  in  life,  to  develop 
serious  stomach  trouble. 

Another  vitally  important  thing  is  that  the  baby  shall 
have  plenty  of  sleep.  For  the  first  six  months  of  his  life, 
he  should  sleep  about  eighteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four.  During  the  next  six  months,  he  needs  sixteen  hours 
sleep,  and  until  he  is  four  years  old  he  should  sleep  four- 
teen hours.  This  means  that  if  a  four-year  old  gets  up 
at  seven  o'clock,  he  should  take  an  hour's  nap  in  the 
afternoon  and  go  to  bed  at  six  o'clock. 

Most  babies  and  little  children  do  not  get  anywhere 
near  so  much  sleep  as  they  need,  and  the  reason  is  that 
their  parents  do  not  realize  how  necessary  sleep  is. 
Grown  people  need  sleep,  but  children  need  far  more, 
since  it  is  during  their  sleep  that  their  little  bodies  grow. 
Put  the  baby  to  bed  at  a  regular  hour  every  day  and  he 
will  soon  form  the  habit  of  dropping  off  at  once  into  a 
peaceful  sleep. 

We  have  already  talked  about  what  fresh  air  does 
for  health.  Some  people,  however,  seem  to  think  that 
babies  do  not  require  so  much  fresh  air  as  we  older  folks. 
Nothing  could  be  more  mistaken.  In  fair,  warm  weather, 
the  baby  should  be  outdoors  all  day  if  possible.  In  cold, 
raw  weather,  he  can  at  least,  protected  with  cap  and  coat, 
play  in  a  room  with  the  windows  wide  open.  If  fewer 
babies  spent  the  evening  in  hot,  stuffy  moving  picture 


THE  CARE  OF  THE  BABY 


169 


houses,  and  more  were  put  to  bed  on  a  porch  or  balcony, 
we  should  have  fewer  sickly,  weak-lunged  grownups. 

And  just  as  the  baby's  lungs  need  fresh,  clean  air,  so 
his  body  needs  plenty  of  clean  water,  inside  and  out. 
Be  sure  to  give  him  cool,  boiled  water  to  drink  and  a  good 
bath  every  day. 


A. — Infant's  dressing  screen.  Holds  all  required  articles  and  protects  table. 
B. — Infant's  dressing  table.   One  half  for  bath  and  change;  one  half  for  use  after 
infant  has  been  bathed  and  dried. 

But  be  sure  that  you  bathe  the  baby  at  the  right  time, 
in  the  right  place  and  the  right  way.  The  right  time  is 
before,  not  after  he  is  fed,  and  not  just  before  he  is 
going  outdoors.  Bathing  just  after  eating  is  likely  to 
cause  indigestion,  and  bathing  before  going  out  makes 
him  more  liable  to  catch  cold. 

The  right  place  to  bathe  the  baby  is  in  a  warm  room, 
where  there  is  no  draft  from  doors  or  windows.  Use  a 
screen  if  necessary. 


170  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

The  right  way  is  with  clean,  warm  water.  Don't 
test  the  water  by  the  old  rule  that  if  the  baby  turns  red, 
the  water  is  too  hot,  and  if  he  turns  blue,  it  is  too  cold. 
Bath  thermometers  do  not  cost  much  and  are  very  use- 
ful. For  babies  under  six  months  old,  water  from  ninety- 
five  to  ninety-eight  degrees  Fahrenheit  is  about  right. 
For  older  babies,  the  water  may  be  gradually  cooled  until 
it  is  as  low  as  ninety  degrees. 

Use  only  pure,  white  soap,  such  as  ivory  or  castile, 
and  do  not  let  anyone  else  ever  use  the  baby's  wash  cloth 
and  towel.  Sponges  are  good  for  washing  automobiles, 
but  not  babies.  It  is  impossible  to  get  a  sponge  really 
clean  without  boiling  it,  and  as  you  know,  boiling  means 
goodbye  to  the  sponge! 

Having  bathed  the  baby,  the  next  step  is  to  dress  him. 
If  Master  Baby  could  speak,  I  think  he  would  say  some- 
thing like  this : 

THE  BABY'S  PLEA 

"Fine  feathers  make  fine  birds,"  they  say, 
We  babies — just  the  other  way- 
Know  youngsters  dressed  in  fancy  clothes, 
All  frills  and  lace  and  furbelows, 
Whose  mothers  rig  them  up  like  toys, 
Don't  make  the  strongest  girls  and  boys. 

"Clothes  make  the  man."     It's  also  true 
That  clothing  makes  the  baby  too, 
So  listen  to  the  Baby's  plea 
And  dress  him  as  he  wants  to  be. 


THE  CARE  OF  THE  BABY         171 

Few,  simple  garments,  warm  but  light, 
Soft,  dry  and  clean  and  never  tight, 
Cut  in  one  piece  and  without  bands, 
Fashioned  by  Mother's  loving  hands, 
No  bunchy  wrinkles  round  the  waist, 
Exactly  suit  a  baby's  taste. 

For  our  one  object,  you  must  know, 
Is  just  to  kick  and  stretch  and  grow. 
In  the  cold  days  of  snow  and  storm, 
Of  course  we  must  be  snug  and  warm, 
But  how  would  you,  do  you  suppose, 
Like  heavy,  bulky,  bunchy  clothes, 
That  overload  you,  truss  and  bind  you, 
Till  'neath  the  mass  'tis  hard  to  find  you? 

When  August  weather  is  at  hand, 

A  diaper  and  knitted  band 

Are  all  the  rage  in  Babyland, 

For  Baby — and  I'm  sure  he's  right — 

Likes  such  a  costume,  cool  and  light, 

Better  than  any  "Frenchy"  gown 

Bought  at  the  smartest  shop  in  town. 

' '  Fine  feathers  make  fine  birds  ? ' '  Well  maybe ! 
But  then,  a  bird  is  not  a  baby ! 

THE   CARE   OF  THE   BABY 

What  are  some  reasons  why  girls,  and  boys  too,  should  know  some  things 
about  how  to  care  for  babies  and  young  children? 

In  some  schools  in  this  country,  the  girls  in  the  upper  grades  have  a 
"Little  Mothers'  Club."  They  enjoy  this  very  much,  for  they  have  a  life- 
sized  babydoll — with  crib,  tub,  clothes  and  all  the  things  a  real  baby  would 


172  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

need — and  a  trained  nurse  to  teach  them  how  to  dress  and  bathe  and  feed 
and  tend  the  baby.  In  one  school  the  boys  were  so  interested  that  they 
earned  the  money  to  buy  the  materials  for  the  girls'  club.  Here  are  the 
questions  they  learned  to  answer.  Try  them.  It  would  be  more  interesting 
if  you  could  learn  the  answers  by  having  a  club  and  practicing  these  things, 
than  by  reading.  But  answer  anyway. 

Why  do  you  modify  milk  for  a  little  baby?  Where  will  you  learn  to  do 
this?  What  is  the  very  best  food  for  a  little  baby  1 

Try  cleaning  a  milk  bottle  according  to  the  directions  in  this  book. 
Why  must  you  do  each  thing  described  ? 

How  would  you  feed  a  year-old  baby?  What  reasons  can  you  give  for 
what  you  say?  Why  would  you  give  him  a  bone  or  a  hard  crust  rather 
than  a  lump  of  food  ?  Do  you  think  it  kind  to  the  baby  to  give  him  tastes 
of  all  the  kinds  of  food  you  eat? 

How  can  you  tell  whether  a  boy  or  girl  has  been  sensibly  fed,  when 
a  baby?  Is  it  worth  the  trouble  to  be  very  careful  about  the  baby's  food? 

Why  do  children  need  rest?  How  much  sleep  does  a  baby  need  at  six 
months?  At  one  year?  At  four  years?  How  much  sleep  does  your  age 
call  for  ?  What  are  some  reasons  why  children  often  do  not  get  enough  sleep? 

How  much  fresh  air  does  a  baby  need  ?  How  shall  the  baby  get  his  fresh 
air  in  bad  weather?  What  do  you  think  of  taking  babies  to  the  "movies?" 

How  much  water  should  a  baby  have  to  drink  ?  What  precautions  should 
you  take  about  this  water? 

Can  you  tell  how  you  would  bathe  a  baby?  What  is  the  right  time? 
What  is  the  right  place?  What  is  the  right  way?  Would  you  want  to 
use  special  materials  for  a  baby's  bath?  Just  what  kinds? 

Describe  what  you  would  call  a  well-dressed  baby?  Go  to  some  store 
selling  children's  clothes  and  pick  out  in  your  mind,  the  most  comfortable, 
as  well  as  the  prettiest  and  least  expensive  babies'  outfit.  How  many  of 
these  things  could  you  make? 

Go  to  a  baby  clinic  with  your  teacher  or  some  other  interested  person. 
See  how  the  doctors  and  nurses  weigh  the  babies  and  care  for  them 
afterwards. 

Find  out  all  you  can  about  "Infant  Welfare"  work  done  in  your  com- 
munity. Becoming  interested  in  this,  is  one  way  you  can  help  make  all 
babies  happier.  Why? 


THE  OWNER  OF  THE  TOOL  CHEST 

THE  best  set  of  tools  in  the  world  are  after  all  only 
tools — they  will  not  create  anything  useful  or  beautiful 
unless  their  owner  knows  how  to  make  use  of  them. 

I  have  a  friend  who,  with  an  old  jack-knife,  can  make 
the  most  exquisite  and  delicate  carvings,  while  his 
brother,  with  a  complete  set  of  perfect  tools,  can  only  hack 
and  destroy  his  material.  I  know  a  household  where  an 
expensive  and  beautiful  piano  is  banged  upon  by  the 
children,  to  the  distress  of  all  the  neighbors,  and  I  know 
a  woman  in  another  home  who  can  draw  the  sweetest 
music  from  an  old  piano  with  three  "dead"  keys. 

Grood  tools  are  a  great  help  to  any  worker,  but  after 
all,  it  isn't  the  tools,  but  the  man  back  of  the  tools 
that  counts. 

And  so,  before  writing  "Finis"  to  this  book,  I  want 
you  to  think  for  a  few  moments  about  how  you  are  going 
to  use  these  wonderful  tool-chests,  so  that  you  may  work 
easily,  happily  and  usefully — so  that  you  may  make  some- 
thing useful  and  beautiful  of  your  life,  and  not,  as  so 
many  do,  "make  a  mess  of  it,"  because  you  do  not  know 
how  to  use  your  tools. 

Suppose  we  look  at  some  of  the  great  workers  of  the 
world  and  see  what  were  the  special  qualities  which  made 
them  masters  of  their  bodies — able  to  use  their  bodily 
tools  to  the  best  advantage. 

Probably  no  man — certainly  no  American — of  his 
time  was  more  widely  popular  than  Theodore  Eoosevelt. 

173 


174  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

He  started  life  with  a  very  poor  "tool-chest,"  for  he 
was  a  frail,  sickly  boy,  with  bad  eyesight  and  shaky 
nerves.  But  the  boy  behind  the  tools  had  four  charac- 
teristics which  seem  to  me  the  four  great  essentials  for 
successful  work— he  had  a  sunny,  cheerful  spirit,  a  love 
of  thoroughness,  a  willingness  to  work  with  others,  and 
an  unshakable  will. 

When  his  father  explained  to  little  Theodore  that  he 
could  never  be  a  strong  man  unless  he 
lived  outdoors,  exercised  systemati- 
cally, and,  in  general,  did  everything 
possible  to  obey  the  laws  of  health, 
the  boy  did  not  fret,  or  rebel,  or  waste 
time  being  sorry  for  himself.  He 
cheerfully  set  to  work  to  be  strong,  and 
we  all  know  what  a  strong,  courage- 
ous, worth-while  man  the  sickly,  ner- 

Copyright,Clinedmst  . 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT      vous  boy  made  ot  himselL 

Throughout  his  hardworking  life,  Eoosevelt,  who  had 
built  himself  a  fine  "tool-chest,"  used  it  hard  and  well. 
And  he  used  it  so  successfully  because  he  had  the  four 
working  virtues  which  I  have  mentioned. 

His  fun-loving  spirit  kept  him  well,  lightened  his 
many  cares  and  made  his  work  easier.  His  passion  for 
thorough  work  made  him  do  well  everything  he  under- 
took. His  willingness  to  work  with  others  made  him  a 
host  of  friends.  His  strong  will  led  him  to  put  through  ! 
tasks  that  other  men  would  have  given  up  in  despair. 
It  was  the  man  behind  the  tools  that  counted. 

Or  think  of  the  famous  actress,  Sarah  Bernhardt. 
When  long  past  the  age  at  which  most  women  are  glad 


THE  OWNER  OF  THE  TOOL  CHEST  175 

to  rest,  having  had  one  leg  amputated,  she  came  to 
America  across  a  sea  infested  with  submarines,  in  order 
to  continue  her  work.  Unlike  Roosevelt  in  every  outward 
detail,  she  was  his  twin  sister  in  cheerfulness,  thorough- 
Less,  friendliness  and  will  power.  Read  her  autobi- 
ography and  you  will  see  that  though  she  was  blessed 
with  a  healthy  body,  it  was  the  woman  herself,  not  her 
tools,  that  was  remarkable.  Her  motto  from  girlhood, 
so  she  tells  us,  was  ' l  quand  meme, ' '  which  may  be  freely 
translated,  "in  spite  of  every  thing. "  And  she  lived  up 
to  that  motto.  She  never  admitted  herself  unable  to 
overcome  any  obstacle  or  carry  out  any  plan.  She  met 
with  many  trials,  but  she  won  fame,  fortune,  usefulness 
and  happiness,  "quand  meme." 

Darwin,  one  of  the  greatest  scientists  who  ever  lived, 
id  so  frail  a  body  that  he  suffered  constantly  and  had 
rest  at  frequent  intervals.  But  he  was  cheerful — he 
wasted  no  time  in  self-pity.  He  was  thorough — he  was 
perfectly  willing  to  watch  an  insect  for  months  together, 
if,  in  the  end,  he  could  learn  some  secret  of  its  life.  And 
he  was,  above  all,  a  man  of  strong  will — failures,  dis- 
couragements, ridicule  and  abuse  never  turned  him  from 
his  purpose.  And,  in  the  end,  the  world  accepted 
his  teachings. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  author  of  Treasure  Island, 
ind  other  delightful  tales  and  poems,  spent  years  in  a 
-am  battle  against  ill  health.  His  "tool-chest"  was 
mly  a  painful  hindrance  to  him,  but  his  smile  never  fai- 
led, his  friendliness  was  inexhaustible,  he  wrote  (lying 
bed)  a  succession  of  stories,  novels,  essays  and  poems, 
[n  one  of  his  poems  he  speaks  of  "my  great  task  of 


176 


THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 


happiness."  But  his  iron  will  fulfilled  the  task  to  the 
end.  He  was  one  of  the  cheeriest,  bravest,  best  workers 
the  world  has  ever  seen. 

So  here  are  four  people  from  three  different  countries, 


ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON 


a  statesman,  an  actress,  a  scientist  and  an  author.     Each 
worked  in  a  different  way,  each  had  great  bodily  handi- 
caps to  overcome,  and  each  triumphed  by  virtue  of  cheer- 
fulness, thoroughness,  friendliness  and  will  power 
And  please  note  that  if  a  man  lacks  any  one  of  these 


THE  OWNER  OP  THE  TOOL  CHEST  177 

qualities,  his  success  may  be  turned  into  failure.  I  sup- 
pose most  of  us  have  known  someone  who  was  a  hard 
worker,  but  who  was  such  a  ' '  grouch  "  that  no  one  wanted 
him  around.  His  lack  of  cheerfulness  affected  his  health, 
drove  away  his  friends  and  ruined  his  life. 

Or  a  man  may  be  cheerful  enough,  but  so  unwilling  to 
work  with  others,  so  set  on  his  own  way  and  his  own 
advantage  that  nobody  will  work  with  him.  Selfishness  in 
a  worker  is  suicidal. 

One  of  the  most  fatal  defects  in  a  worker  is  lack  of 
thoroughness.  I  know  a  man  who,  one  would  say,  has 
everything  to  make  him  successful.  His  health  is  good, 
he  is  cheerful  and  pleasant  to  work  with,  and  he  seems 
to  have  enough  will  power,  but  he  simply  will  not  take 
time  and  pains  to  do  anything  thoroughly  well.  Our 
grandparents  had  a  very  expressive  phrase  to  describe 
half-done  work ;  they  used  to  say.  ' '  He  gave  it '  a  lick  and 
a  promise.'  '  Now  "a  lick  and  a  promise "  means  quick 
work,  but  it  also  means  poor  work.  And  poor  work  is 
often  worse  than  no  work  at  all.  A  bridge  poorly  built 
may  wreck  a  train.  A  meal  poorly  cooked  may  spoil 
a  family's  health.  Even  a  tool  poorly  made  may  inflict 
a  lifelong  injury. 

Worst  of  all  possible  defects  in  the  "man  behind  the 
tools"  is  a  weak  will,  a  lack  of  determination.  We  some- 
times say  that  so-and-so  "has  no  backbone."  Now  we 
know  what  would  happen  to  a  man's  body  if  he  had  no 
physical  backbone.  The  same  thing,  in  a  spiritual  sense, 

happens  to  the  man  himself  if  he  has  no  backbone  of  will- 
12 


178  THE  WORKER'S  TOOL  CHEST 

power.  He  is  a  jellyfish  carried  hither  and  thither  by 
the  tide  of  desire  or  circumstances.  He  is  not  the  owner 
of  his  body,  but  is  owned  by  it. 

As  I  enter  the  subway  station  every  night,  I  pass  a 
news-stand  kept  by  a  very  remarkable  man.  I  know  that 
he  has  wonderful  will-power,  and  that  he  owns  his  body, 
although  I  have  never  said  anything  to  him  but,  * '  Evening 
Post,  please. " 

He  has  no  hands.  One  is  cut  off  at  the  wrist.  The 
other  arm  is  cut  off  above  the  elbow.  And  yet,  he  some- 
how manages  to  pick  up  and  hand  you  your  paper  folded. 
He  even,  with  a  pencil  strapped  to  his  wrist,  writes  letters 
and  figures  up  his  sales.  He  always  looks  smiling, 
happy,  busy. 

When  I  look  at  him  I  think  of  another  man,  slightly 
crippled,  who  stands  further  down  the  street  holding 
out  a  cup  and  whining,  "Help  a  poor  cripple!  Help  a 
poor  cripple ! ' ' 

I  feel  sorry  for  this  man,  but  I  honor  the  other  man. 
America  needs  such  men  as  he,  men  who,  even  with  broken 
tools,  can  do  their  honest  share  of  honest  work. 

You  boys  and  girls  are  at  an  age  where  it  is  largely 
within  your  power  to  strengthen  your  bodies  so  that  they 
will  serve  you  long  and  well.  Everyone  of  us,  for  his  own 
sake  and  for  his  country's  sake,  should  strive  for  health. 
But  while  we  strive  for  health,  let's  also  strive,  quite  as 
long  and  hard,  for  the  working  virtues  of  cheerfulness, 
helpfulness,  thoroughness  and  determination.  Without 
these,  our  tools  of  strength  and  health  will  be  useless  and 


THE  OWNER  OF  THE  TOOL  CHEST  179 

the    work    for    which    we    came    into    the    world    will 
remain  undone. 

THE  OWNER  OF  THE  TOOL-CHEST 

What  were  Roosevelt's  four  "working  virtues  ?"  Show  how  they  helped 
to  make  him  a  great  man. 

What  was  Sara  Bernhardt's  motto?  Show  how  she  used  it  to  win  fame 
and  happiness  for  herself. 

What  qualities  did  Darwin  have  which  enabled  him  to  do  his  great  work  ? 

What  was  R.  L.  S.'s  "great  task?"  Show  why  it  was  hard  and  how 
he  accomplished  it. 

Make  a  little  card,  about  2x4  inches,  to  stick  in  your  looking  glass 
where  you  will  see  it  daily.  Put  on  it  five  words  that  will  remind  you  of 
the  qualities  you  need  most  of  all  to  make  your  life  successful.  What  will 
the  five  words  be?  Why  choose  these? 


PART  II 
A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     GOOD  NEIGHBORS 183 

II.    A  "CHANGE  OP  AIR" 187 

III.  WATER 200 

IV.  How  RIVERS  ARE  WASHED 207 

V.    CLEAN  ICE 216 

VI.     PURE  FOOD 227 

VII.     How  FOOD  is  KEPT  OR  SPOILED 237 

VIII.     THE  MILK  QUESTION .249 

IX.     GUARDIANS  OF  PUBLIC  HEALTH 264 

X.    THE  RED  CROSS 269 

XI.    THE  YELLOW  FLAG 275 

XII.     INOCULATION 282 

XIII.  HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES 288 

XIV.  TUBERCULOSIS 301 

XV.    SEWAGE 309 

XVI.     REFUSE 317 

XVII.    BATHING 325 

XVIII.     PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS 333 

XIX.     DRUGS  AND  ALCOHOL 341 

XX.    MAKING  THE  COMMUNITY  SAFE 347 

XXI.    BUILDING  A  CITY'S  CHARACTER 354 

XXII.  EXERCISES..                                                                                   .  359 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

CHAPTER  I 

GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

EVEKY  boy  and  girl  loves  the  story  of  Robinson 
Crusoe.  I  used  to  think  it  would  be  the  greatest  fun 
in  the  world  to  be  shipwrecked  on  a  desert  island.  I 
longed  to  build  a  hut  of  palm-branches,  to  drink  water 
from  a  cool  spring,  instead  of  a  faucet,  to  have  a  clear 
pool  for  a  bath-tub,  and  to  pluck  strange  fruit  and  berries, 
instead  of  sitting  down  to  a  respectable  dinner-table. 

But  you  remember  that  Robinson  Crusoe  grew  terri- 
bly lonely,  and  when  he  saw  Friday's  foot-prints,  was 
ready  to  cry  for  joy  to  think  that,  at  last,  he  had 
a  companion. 

This  longing  for  company  seems  to  be  a  part  of  our 
nature.  Indeed  it  is  a  part  of  animal  nature,  too. 
The  birds,  overhead,  fly  past  in  flocks,  the  sheep  and 
wild  horses  move  in  herds,  the  bees  and  ants  live  to- 
gether in  colonies.  Even  the  fish,  if  you  look  into  the 
clear,  golden-brown  shallows  of  the  brook,  can  be  seen 
darting  about  in  crowds. 

So  it  is  with  men — they  dread  loneliness,  they  want  to 
be  together.  But  before  they  are,  as  we  say,  "civilized," 
they  love  to  wander,  like  the  wild  animals,  from  place 
to  place.  Did  you  ever  see  a  gipsy-camp!  The  gypsies 
are  like  Indians — they  cannot  endure  city  life.  So  they 
pack  all  their  furniture  into  queer  carts  like  "  prairie- 
schooners.  ' '  When  they  decide  to  camp  awhile,  off  comes 

183 


184  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

the  canvas  top  of  the  cart,  and  it  is  pegged  down  to 
form  a  tent.  Usually,  they  camp  near  a  stream  where 
they  can  drink  and  bathe — though  I  don't  think  they 
bother  much  about  bathing.  They  buy  or  steal  food 
from  the  farmers  and  cook  it  over  their  camp-fire  in  a 
" gipsy  kettle."  As  they  have  no  bathroom  but  the 
brook,  so  also  they  have  no  garbage  collector,  or  ashman. 
They  dump  their  ashes  and  refuse  all  about  the  camp, 
and  when  it  becomes  too  cluttered  or  too  smelly  for 
comfort,  they  pack  their  wagons,  and  off  they  go. 

I  suppose  almost  everyone  would  like  to  live  in  this 
care-free  way  for  awhile.  It  is  great  fun,  in  summer, 
to  camp  out,  to  paddle  a  canoe  down  a  sunlit  river,  to 
sleep  under  the  stars,  to  strap  a  satchel  on  one's  back 
and  tramp  through  the  country  lanes.  But,  for  most 
of  us,  a  few  weeks  of  wandering  is  enough.  We  are 
glad  to  get  back  to  our  comfortable  bed  and  warm  bath 
and  good  meals,  We  are  glad  to  see  our  friends  and 
playmates,  again.  We  want  to  know  how  our  garden 
is  getting  on,  whether  our  pets  are  all  right,  what  has 
been  happening  while  we  were  gone.  We  want  to  take 
up  our  work  and  play  again.  I've  even  known  some 
children  who  were  eager  to  get  back  to  school  again, 
after  their  summer  in  the  country. 

It  is  the  desire  to  stop  wandering  and  settle  down 
that  leads  men  to  give  up  living  in  tents  and  to  build 
cities  of  wood  and  stone. 

A  hundred  years  ago,  almost  everyone  in  the  United 
States  lived  in  the  country.  Only  one  person  in  twenty 
lived  in  a  town  of  eight  thousand,  or  over — as  large  as 
Annapolis,  Maryland,  or  Brattleboro,  Vermont.  But 


GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


185 


people  flocked  more  and  more  into  the  cities,  until  now, 
over  one  third  of  the  people  live  in  cities  of  that  size  or 


Washington  from  an  Airplane. 


larger — and  still  the  population  in  the  cities  is  growing 
more  than  three  times  as  fast  as  in  the  country. 

If  you  could  look  down  on  a  great  city  from  an 


186  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

aeroplane,  you  would  see  thousands  and  thousands  of 
houses,  stretching  in  every  direction,  each  house  the 
home  of  perhaps  one,  perhaps  a  dozen  families.  And 
you  would  see,  also,  many  stores  and  factories  and 
schools  and  libraries  and  theaters  and  parks,  where  all 
these  people  work  and  learn  and  play  together. 

In  the  city,  nobody  is  a  Eobinson  Crusoe.  Nobody 
has  to  draw  his  own  water,  raise  his  own  vegetables  and 
kill  his  own  meat,  like  Eobinson  Crusoe,  but  neither  can 
anyone  be  like  Robinson  in  doing  exactly  as  he  pleases, 
without  thinking  of  other  people.  City  people  cannot 
build  a  gipsy  fire  in  the  street.  They  must  not  bathe  in 
the  city  reservoir.  They  must  not  keep  cows  and  chick- 
ens in  their  back-yards.  They  must  not  throw  their  ashes 
and  garbage  on  the  sidewalk.  If  people  enjoy  playing 
and  working  and  living  together,  rather  than  alone,  they 
must  pay  for  having  company  by  being  good  company 
themselves.  Each  one  must  be  a  good  neighbor  to  the  rest. 

Since  the  health  and  happiness  of  a  city  depend  on 
how  well  its  citizens  work  together,  and  since  you  school- 
children are  going  soon  to  be  full  citizens,  we  are  going 
to  talk  about  some  of  the  ways  in  which  city  people  may 
hurt  or  help  each  other,  and  make  their  city  a  dangerous, 
or  a  wholesome  place  in  which  to  live.  The  cities  of  the 
future  are  in  the  hands  of  the  school-children  of  today. 

CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Contrast  the  pleasures  of  the  camper's  or  pioneer's  life  with  your  life 
in  a  city.  Next,  point  out  all  the  inconveniences  or  discomforts  of  each  of 
these  two  ways  of  living. 

Prove  that  people  today,  are  growing  more  fond  of  city  life  and  its 
conveniences,  than  of  the  country.  What  do  you  think  are  the  chief 
reasons  for  this? 

Has  each  of  us  any  responsibility  for  making  city  life  safe  and  happy? 
What  can  we  do  to  meet  this  responsibility? 


CHAPTER  II 

A "CHANGE  OF  AIR" 

MY  neighbor,  Mrs.  Frost,  is  so  afraid  of  cold  air 
that  all  winter  her  windows  are  tight  shut.  The  other 
day,  she  came  to  make  a  farewell  call  on  me.  "I've  been 
so  worried  about  Dorothy  and  Robert, ' '  she  said.  '  *  They 
look  so  pale  and  have  no  appetites,  and  as  fast  as  they 
get  over  one  cold,  they  catch  another.  So  we  are  all 
going  to  Florida  for  a  change  of  air.  It's  a  dreadful 
nuisance  to  close  up  the  house  and  pack  everything,  and 
the  Florida  hotels  are  very  expensive,  but  I  think  a 
change  of  air  is  what  the  children  need. ' ' 

Of  course,  I  told  Mrs.  Frost  that  I  hoped  the  Florida 
air  would  benefit  Dorothy  and  Robert,  but  I  couldn't  help 
thinking  that  it  would  be  a  great  deal  easier  and  cheaper 
to  stay  at  home  and  get.  a  "change  of  air"  by  opening 
the  windows. 

But  that  is  the  way  with  most  people.  They  spend 
time  and  money  travelling  for  a  "change  of  air,"  but 
never  think  about  keeping  their  own  houses  fresh  and 
airy,  or  about  helping  to  keep  the  air  of  their  city  clean 
and  sweet  for  themselves  and  their  neighbors. 

My  home  is  in  New  York,  where  the  houses  stand  one 
against  another  like  a  row  of  dominoes.  This  morning, 
sitting  at  my  open  window  in  the  Autumn  sunshine,  I 
looked  across  the  back-yards  to  the  rear  of  the  houses 
on  the  next  street  and  counted  the  windows.  I  could  see 
sixty-three  of  them  and  of  the  whole  sixty-three,  how 

187 


188  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

many  do  you  suppose  were  open?  Only  thirteen!  All 
the  rest  were  shut  a,s  tight  as  if  air  were  a  deadly  poison, 
instead  of  the  greatest  blessing  in  the  world. 

And  it  is  not  city  people  only  that  are  afraid  of  air. 
I  know  a  dear  old  Quaker  lady,  who  lives  in  the  country 
in  a  charming  white  house,  with  green  shutters.  The 


night  breezes  there  are  sweet  with  honey-suckle  and  mus- 
ical with  the  tinkle  of  a  brook  under  the  windows,  but 
when  the  old  lady  bids  me  good  night,  she  always  says, 
"Now  dear,  be  sure  thee  closes  thy  window  tight.  The 
night  air  here  is  full  of  malaria."  The  dear  soul  seems 
never  to  have  heard — what  the  doctors  discovered  long 
ago — that  it  isn't  night  air  at  all,  but  something  quite 
different  that  gives  people  malaria. 

Even  worse  than  keeping  the  windows  shut  is  having 
almost    no   windows    at    all.     Sometimes,    in    the    open 


A  "CHANGE  OF  AIR"  189 

country,  we  see  houses  built  in  a  row,  with  no  chance  for 
side  windows.  Sometimes,  too,  you  will  see  a  country 
house  standing  alone,  with  air  all  around  it,  and  only  a 
few  small  windows  to  let  the  life-giving  air  in.  In  a 
delightful  book  of  travels,  Mr.  George  Kennan  tells  about 
the  houses  of  a  certain  Siberian  tribe  called  the  Koryaks 
(or  Koraks).  They  have  no  windows  or  doors — only  a 
chimney-hole,  through  which  to  get  air  and  enter  the 
house.  Mr.  Kennan  says  that,  when  he  slid  down  a  pole 
through  the  chimney  into  the  midst  of  the  family,  he 
felt  like  a  very  sooty  and  uncomfortable  Santa  Glaus. 

It  seems  horrible  to  us  to  live  in  such  a  house,  with 
no  windows,  but  in  New  York  and  many  other  cities, 
there  are  thousands  and  thousands  of  rooms  that  get  no 
outside  air  and  are  almost  as  dark  as  the  Koryak  houses. 

The  trouble  in  large  cities  is  that  the  land  costs  a 
great  deal,  so  the  houses,  instead  of  being  two  or  three 
stories  high,  with  lawns  and  gardens  around  them,  are 
piled  up  and  up,  ten  or  twelve  stories  or  even  higher  and 
packed  solidly  together,  so  that  hundreds  of  people  may 
live  in  one  tenement  or  apartment  house.  In  many 
old  parts  of  the  city  there  are  no  back  yards  at  all,  as 
a  rear  tenement  has  been  built  back  of  the  one  on  the 
street.  Of  course,  this  leaves  the  children  no  place  to 
play  but  the  street,  but  I  am  afraid  the  men  who  built 
these  old  tenements  were  not  thinking  about  the  children 
at  all,  but  only  about  how  they  could  pack  in  the  most 
tenants  and  get  the  most  rent  money. 

Now,  if  you  build  two  houses  right  back  to  back,  with 
no  yard  between,  it  will  make  all  but  the  front  and  back 
rooms  dark.  So  these  tenements  have  an  air-shaft  built  in 


190  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

the  middle,  and  all  the  air  the  inner  rooms  get  comes  from 
this  air-shaft.  But  what  we  need  is  not  simply  air,  but 
"fresh"  air — air  that  has  not  been  kept  standing.  If 
air  stands  shut  up  in  a  room,  or  a  mine,  or  an  air-shaft, 
it  seems  to  become  unwholesome,  just  as  water  that  is 
stagnant  is  not  fit  to  drink.  If  you  want  to  see  what 
air-shaft  air  does,  try  this  experiment. 


Light  a  short  piece  of  candle  and  set  it  on  a  tin  plate, 
so  that  it  cannot  set  fire  to  anything.  Then  take  a  mail- 
ing tube,  or  any  other  long,  stiff,  narrow  tube,  and  set  it 
around  the  candle,  holding  it  down  so  that  no  air  can 
enter  the  bottom.  The  light  will  burn  more  and  more 
dimly  and  at  last  go  out. 

We,  of  course,  are  not  candles,  but  our  lungs  must 
carry  air  to  our  blood,  so  it  can  burn  up  our  food  and  heat 
our  bodies,  just  as  the  candle  needs  air  in  order  to  burn 
the  wax.  If  you  blow  gently  on  a  candle  flame,  it  will 
flare  up  brightly.  In  the  same  way,  moving  air  will 


A  "CHANGE  OF  AIR"  191 

make  the  burning  process  inside  our  bodies  go  on  briskly 
and  keep  us  well.  There  is  nothing  more  refreshing  than 
a  good  breeze  of  clean  air.  But  the  standing  air  in  a 
closed  room  or  an  air-shaft  will  do  to  ,us  what  the  stand- 
ing air  in  the  tube  did  to  the  candle — it  will  dampen  our 
fires  and  make  us  feel  tired  and  stupid  and  headachey. 


How  would  you  like  to  sleep  here? 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  in  New  York,  and  many  other 
cities,  landlords  are  no  longer  allowed  to  build  such  dark 
houses,  with  air-shafts  instead  of  windows.  Every 
builder  must  provide  for  a  certain  amount  of  air  and 
light,  nowadays,  and  inspectors  go  around  to  see  that 
the  law  is  obeyed.  In  olden  times,  there  were  no  such 
laws  to  protect  the  people.  Once  upon  a  time  in  England, 
there  used  to  be  a  tax  called  the  ' '  window  tax ' ' — that  is, 
anyone  who  had  more  than  six  windows  in  his  house  had 
to  pay  a  certain  amount  of  money  to  the  government. 


192  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Naturally,  people  were  likely  to  have  only  a  few  windows, 
so  as  to  avoid  the  tax,  but,  as  time  went  on,  they  saw  how 
bad  this  was  for  the  health  of  the  city  and  about  sixty- 
five  years  ago,  this  way  of  raising  money  was  given  up. 

After  all,  however,  nothing  is  useful  unless  it  is  used, 
and  a  closed  window  doesn't  let  in  much  more  air  than 
a  blank  wall.  When  I  counted  the  thirteen  open  windows 
this  morning,  I  saw  only  three  that  gave  the  air  a  real 
chance  to  move  properly. 

If  you  have  ever  explored  one  of  our  beautiful  lakes, 
you  know  that  at  one  end,  there  is  a  spring,  or  stream 
that  flows  into  the  lake,  and  at  the  other  end,  there  is  an 
outlet — a  little  stream  that  carries  the  water  away. 
Now,  our  bedrooms  and  sitting  rooms,  our  schools  and 
churches,  our  street  cars  and  trains,  should  each  be  a 
lake  of  air,  with  the  fresh  air  pouring  in  at  one  end  and 
the  stale  air  going  out  at  the  other.  Instead,  they  are 
usually  like  a  stagnant  pool,  unfit  for  any  creature  to 
live  in. 

Suppose  you  see  what  effect  it  will  have  on  your  candle 
if  you  divide  the  tube  in  two  by  putting  a  cardboard 
partition  down  the  middle.  A  supply  of  fresh  air  can  go 
down  one  side  and  the  stale,  burnt  air  can  go  up  and  out 
the  other  side.  You  will  find,  that  instead  of  going  out, 
the  candle  will  burn  quite  merrily.  If  you  want  to  see 
which  way  the  air  is  going,  hold  a  tiny  bit  of  down  from 
a  feather  over  the  tube.  You  will  see  that,  held  one  side, 
the  down,  if  you  let  it  go,  will  drop  downward,  carried 
by  the  fresh,  cold  air.  Held  over  the  other  side,  the 
down  will  float  up  on  the  current  of  the  hot,  burnt-up  air. 

The  best  way  to  ventilate  a  room  is  to  open  windows 


A  "CHANGE  OF  AIR" 


193 


on  opposite  sides,  so  the  air  can  sweep  right  through, 
but  not  many  city  rooms  have  windows  on  two  sides. 
The  next  best  way  is  to  open  the  window  at  top  and 
bottom.  If  you  hold  a  feather  at  the  window,  you  can 
see,  by  the  way  it  blows,  that  the  air  comes  in  at  the  bot- 
tom and  goes  out  at  the  top,  making  a  steady  stream  of 
moving  air. 

The  air  goes  out  at  the  top,  because  warm  air  is  lighter 


This  indicates  how  much  cracks  and  fireplace  help  in  ventilation. 

than  cold  air  and  always  rises  toward  the  ceiling.  In 
a  few  years,  when  you  study  physics,  you  will  learn  just 
why  warm  air ( is  lighter,  but  meanwhile  you  can  see  with 
your  own  eyes  that  it  is,  for  the  hot  steam  from  the  tea- 
kettle and  the  hot  smoke  from  the  factory  chimney  both 
float  upward.  And  if  you  have  ever  been  in  the  top 
gallery  of  a  theater,  you  know  how  much  hotter  it  is 
there  than  downstairs  on  the  ground  floor. 

13 


194  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

The  first  thing,  then,  to  remember  about  ventilating 
a  house,  or  school  or  theater,  is  that  it  should  be  full  of 
moving  air — there  must  be  a  way  for  fresh  air  to  get 
in  and  stale  air  to  get  out.  Sometimes,  this  is  managed 
by  means  of  windows,  but  in  big  buildings  that  contain 
many  people,  there  are  also,  as  a  rule,  pipes,  or  fans, 
to  force  in  the  fresh  air,  or  to  suck  the  stale  air  out.  In 
many  cities,  there  is  a  law  that  a  certain  amount  of  fresh 
air  for  every  pupil  must  pass  through  the  school  house 
every  hour.  Do  you  know  whether  there  is  such  a  law 
in  your  city?  I  do  not  think,  however,  that  these  artific- 
ial ways  of  ventilating  by  machinery  are  always  very 
successful,  for  most  of  our  theatres  and  halls,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  even  our  schools,  are  hot  and  stuffy. 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  second  thing  to  remember, 
that  air  must  be  like  the  Little  Bear's  porridge,  neither 
too  hot  nor  too  cold,  but  "  just  right."  Of  course,  people 
can  stand  fearful  cold.  Some  of  the  Arctic  explorers 
tell  of  places  where  the  thermometer  is  seventy-five 
below  zero.  Then  too,  we  know  that  men  can  live  in  ter- 
rible heat.  Perhaps  you  have  seen  men  feeding  the 
engines  of  an  ocean  steamer,  or  working  in  an  iron  foun- 
dry. They  are  stripped  to  the  waist — the  firelight  shin- 
ing on  the  perspiration  that  streams  from  their  faces  and 
bodies.  In  such  places,  the  thermometer  sometimes  goes 
as  high  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  degrees — more  than 
twice  as  high  as  on  the  hottest  summer  day.  But  such 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold  are  not  good  for  anyone,  and 
it  is  especially  unhealthful  to  live  in  very  warm  rooms, 
because  it  makes  one  feel  dull  and  tired  while  he  is  in- 
doors and  much  more  liable  to  take  cold  when  he  goes 


A  "CHANGE  OF  AIR"  195 

out  into  the  cool  air.  About  the  right  temperature  for  a 
room  where  a  person  is  sitting  quietly  is  sixty-three  de- 
grees to  sixty-eight  degrees  The  thermometer  should 
never  go  above  seventy  degrees,  and  if  you  are  stirring 
about,  or  working,  it  should  be  much  cooler. 

Another  trouble  about  an  overheated  room  is  that 
often,  especially  where  there  is  steam  heat,  the  air  be- 
comes very  dry.  Have  you  never  noticed,  when  the  steam 
is  first  turned  on  in  the  school-room  in  the  fall,  how  dry 
and  burnt-up  the  air  seems?  Such  very  dry  air  dries 
out  the  moist  lining  of  our  noses  and  throats  and  makes 
them  feel  sore  and  ticklish.  When  the  nose  and  throat 
are  dry,  they  are  more  likely  to  catch  the  germs  of  colds 
and  other  diseases.  It  is  a  good  idea  to  set  a  pan  of  water 
on  the  register,  stove,  or  radiator,  so  that  the  dry  air 
will  be  moistened  by  its  evaporation. 

But  even  if  air  is  fresh  and  moving,  neither  too  hot 
nor  too  cold,  and  moist  enough,  it  can  still  be  unfit  to 
breathe,  because  of  dust  and  dirt.  Did  you  ever  stop 
to  think  how  much  dirt  is  being  thrown  into  the  air  all 
the  time?  Careless  people  sweep  dust  out  of  the  front 
door  into  the  street.  The  uncovered  ash-wagon  goes 
along  scattering  a  cloud  of  fine  ashes  behind  it.  The  fac- 
tory burns  soft  coal  and  sends  a  great  mass  of  inky 
smoke  into  the  sky.  The  automobiles  speed  down  the 
street  leaving  a  vile  smelling  blue  trail  on  the  air.  The 
boy  spits  on  the  sidewalk.  The  saliva  dries  into  little 
scales,  Which  the  wind  whirls  away  and  throws  into  some- 
one else's  face.  In  the  country,  dirt  is  quickly  blown 
away  across  the  fields,  but  in  the  city,  it  travels  up  one 
narrow  street  and  down  another,  and  the  high  buildings 


196  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

prevent  its  ever  being  really  swept  away.  Of  course,  it 
is  always  dirtiest  nearest  to  the  ground.  That  is  why  the 
air  on  the  top  floor  is  so  much  better  than  in  the  basement. 

The  doctors  tell  us  that  very  few  actual  disease  germs 
are  carried  by  the  air,  but  certainly,  such  dirty,  smoky, 
ill-smelling  air  is  not  good  for  anyone,  and  makes  him 
more  likely  to  "catch"  any  disease  germ  that  may  happen 
to  come  his  way.  The  dirt  scratches  our  noses  and 
throats,  the  bad  smells  sicken  us  and  the  smoke  shuts 
out  the  sunshine  and  makes  us  "blue."  Besides  all  this, 
dirt  and  so.ot  soil  our  clothes  and  rooms,  so  that  we  shut 
the  windows  to  keep  out  the  dirt,  and  so  keep  out  the 
air,  too. 

I  'm  told  that  in  London,  England,  the  smoke  from  the 
houses  and  factories  throws  into  the  air  over  four  hun- 
dred tons  of  soot  every  day.  You  have  often  seen  a 
wagon  holding  a  ton  of  coal.  Well,  just  imagine  four 
hundred  of  them  full  of  soot  and  you  will  realize  how 
dirty  London  must  be  with  that  mass  of  dirt  in  the  air. 
One  London  doctor  calculated  that  these  clouds  of  soot 
cut  off,  in  winter,  one-half  of  London's  light  and  sunshine. 
Isn't  it  terrible  to  think  that  the  little  children  of  London 
must  not  only  play  in  the  narrow  streets,  but  cannot 
even  have  the  blue  sky  and  sunlight  overhead? 

In  many  cities  in  America,  no  one  is  allowed  to  burn 
soft  coal,  for  the  smoke  from  hard  coal  is  not  nearly  so 
black  and  dirty.  In  other  cities,  soft  coal  is  allowed,  but 
the  factories  are  obliged  to  use  "smoke  consumers" — 
machinery  that  takes  most  of  the  soot  out  of  the  smoke 
before  it  leaves  the  chimney.  Have  you  ever  noticed 
whether  the  factories  in  your  town  make  black  smoke? 


A  "CHANGE  OF  AIR" 


197 


Then,  too,  most  cities  have  rules  against  automobiles 
smoking,  against  littering  the  streets  with  rubbish  and 
against  spitting.  Smoking  tobacco  is  allowed  only  in  cer- 
tain cars,  or  on  certain  car-seats,  or  in  certain  rooms.  I 
suppose  the  idea  is  that  a  man  has  a  right  to  poison  his 
own  air  with  tobacco,  but  must  not  poison  his  neighbor's. 
Unluckily,  since  we  all  need  constantly  moving  air,  we 


can't  each  fence  off  his  own  little  piece  of  it,  and  keep  it 
nice  and  clean.  There  is  no  my  air,  or  your  air,  it  is  all 
our  air,  and  we  must  all  work  together  to  keep  it  clean. 

Of  late  years,  people  have  begun  to  see,  as  they  never 
did  before,  how  necessary  the  right  sort  of  air  is.  For 
a  good  many  years,  they  experimented  with  machinery 
to  get  good  air  into  the  schools,  churches  and  theaters, 
but  now  they  are  trying  to  live  more  and  more  outdoors. 


198  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Some  people  put  tents  on  their  roofs  and  sleep  there  even 
in  winter.  Many  people,  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
year,  eat  their  meals  011  the  piazza — and  oh,  how  good 
everything  tastes!  It  is  almost  like  a  picnic.  Several 
American  cities  have  outdoor  theaters  and  roof-gardens. 
Many  hospitals,  especially  those  for  tuberculosis,  keep 
the  sick  people  outdoors  day  and  night.  And  best  of 
all  are  the  open-air  schools. 

In  these  schools,  the  classes  are  protected  from  rain 
and  snow  and  from  high  winds,  but  the  clean,  fresh  air 
blows  through  the  room  with  no  windows  to  stop  it.  The 
children  and  teachers  are  bundled  up  like  Eskimos,  so 
they  are  perfectly  warm  and  they  all  love  their  school 
work.  A  friend  of  mine  who  teaches  such  a  class,  tells 
me  that  the  children  never  have  colds,  are  all  rosy  and 
happy  and  do  fine  work.  The  lessons  seem  to  be  learned 
in  half  the  time  they  used  to  take  in  the  stuffy  old  school- 
room, and  all  the  children  beg  to  be  kept  in  the  open- 
air  class. 


FRESH  AIR 


How  long,  and  how  often,  can  you  have  the  windows  of  your  home  open? 
Talk  this  over  with  your  parents. 

Why  do  city  houses,  particularly,  have  fewer  windows  than  they  should 
have?  Why  are  such  houses  built  so  close  together? 

What  laws  in  your  city,  or  state,  are  there,  which  prevent  too  close 
building  of  houses?  What  laws  are  there  which  regulate  the  amount  of 
light  and  air  a  house  must  have? 

Repeat  the  experiment  with  the  candle,  described  in  this  chapter,  and 
use  it  to  explain  how  to  ventilate  a  room. 

How  is  the  largest  church  in  your  community  ventilated?  The  largest 
public  hall  or  theater?  Your  school?  If  possible,  visit  the  ventilating 
plant  of  one  of  these  places,  so  you  can  tell  about  it,  to  those  who  did 
not  see  it. 


A  "CHANGE  OF  AIR"  199 

What  is  the  temperature  of  your  school-room?  Get  a  weekly  average. 
What  are  the  reasons  why  it  should  not  go  above  seventy  degrees? 

Why  do  you 'often  see  pans  of  water  on  stoves,  etc.? 

Make  a  list  of  the  ways  in  which  you  have  seen  air  made  dirty  or 
dusty.  Wliat  harm  may  come  from  this  condition  of  air? 

What  laws  are  there  in  your  community  about  smoking  chimneys? 

Are  there  any  open-air  schools  in  your  town  ?  Could  you  visit  one  and 
make  a  report  on  it  to  your  schoolmates? 

What  things  can  people  do,  to  enjoy  more  fresh  air?  What  kinds  of 
recreations  are  always  taken  in  bad  air?  What  would  be  better  kinds 
of  recreation? 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CLOUD 

I  bring  fresh  showers  for  the  thirsting  flowers, 

From  the  seas  and  the  streams; 
I  bear  light  shade  for  the  leaves  when  laid 

In  their  noon-day  dreams. 

I  sift  the  snow  on  the  mountains  below, 
And  their  great  pines  groan  aghast; 

And  all  the  night  'tis,  my  pillow  white, 
While  I  sleep  in  the  arms  of  the  blast. 

That  orbed  maiden  with  white  fire  laden 

Whom  mortals  call  the  moon, 
Glides  glimmering  o'er  my  fleece-like  floor, 

By  the  midnight  breezes  strewn. 


I  am  the  daughter  of  earth  and  water, 

And  the  nursling  of  the  sky ; 
I  pass  through  the  pores  of  the  ocean  and  shores ; 

I  change,  but  I  cannot  die. 

Percy  Bysshe  Shelley. 

WATER 

ONE  day  last  summer,  I  lay  on  the  grass  under  a 
willow  tree  whose  grey-green,  feathery  branches  trailed 
into  the  waters  of  a  peaceful  little  river.  From  far  away 
upstream — so  far  that  it  sounded  like  a  sleepy  bumble- 
bee, came  the  buzz  of  a  saw-mill.  Overhead,  great,  puffy, 
white  clouds  sailed  along.  They  reminded  me  of  a  poem 
goo 


WATER  201 

called  '  *  The  Cloud, ' '  part  of  which  I  .have  put  before  this 
chapter.  Perhaps  you  skipped  it,  because  you  think  you 
do  not  like  poetry;  but  if  you  read  it  aloud  slowly,  I 
think  you  will  see  how  beautiful  it  is.  I  want  you  espec- 
ially to  notice  the  last  two  lines — 
"I  pass  through  the  pores  of  the  ocean  and  shores; 

I  change,  but  I  cannot  die. ' ' 

Of  course,  we  all  know  that  the  water  is  drawn  from 
the  lakes  and  rivers  and  ocean  by  the  sun,  and  that  it 
forms  into  clouds  in  the  sky.  We  know,  too,  that  the 
clouds  let  the  water  fall  as  drops  of  rain,  or  flakes  of  snow. 
And  we  know  that  the  rain  and  snow  feed  the  brooks  and 
rivers,  and  so  flow  back  again  into  the  ocean,  where  their 
waters  started.  But  I  wonder  whether  you  realize  that 
we  actually  live,  all  the  time,  in  a  vast  ocean  of  water, 
which  flows  not  merely  through  clouds  and  rivers, 
but  through  trees  and  animals  and  us  ourselves — through 
every  living  creature. 

Do  you  remember  the  old  conundrum  about  the  woman 
who  was  i  t  over  water,  under  water,  and  yet  not  touching 
water?"  The  answer  is  that  she  was  walking  over  a 
bridge  with  a  pail  of  water  on  her  head;  but  it  is  rather 
a  silly  answer,  for  everyone  of  us  is  "over  water  and 
under  water,"  all  the  time.  The  clouds  over  our  heads 
are  full  of  water,  and  even  when  there  are  no  clouds,  the 
air  itself  always  has  more  or  less  water  in  it.  You  can 
see  that  the  water  from  warm,  indoor  air  collects  on  a  pit- 
cher of  ice- water,  or  on  grandfather's  spectacles,  when 
he  comes  in  on  a  frosty  day.  Yes,  we  are  '  '  under  water, ' ' 
constantly.  As  for  being  i  '  over  water, ' '  the  whole  earth 
is  one  great  sponge.  The  rain  soaks  into  it,  and  where- 


202  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

ever  we  go,  we  have  under  our  feet  a  vast  ocean  of 
"ground  water,"  passing  through  the  "pores"  of  the 
earth  just  as  water  goes  through  the  holes  of  a  sponge,  or 
as  the  watery  perspiration  goes  out  through  the  pores  of 
our  skins.  Here  and  there,  this  water  comes  to  the  sur- 
face and  forms  a  spring,  -lake,  or  river — which  we  call 
"surface  water" — but  anywhere,  if  we  only  dig  deep 
enough,  we  shall  at  last,  strike  i  i  ground  water. ' ' 

But  not  only  are  we  under  water  and  over  water— 
our  bodies  themselves  are  mostly  made  of  water — in  fact, 
every  living  thing  in  the  world  is  just  water,  colored  and 
flavored  and  mixed  up  in  different  ways,  with  differ- 
ent materials. 

You  have  learned  in  studying  geography  that  two- 
thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  made  up  of  water ;  but 
did  you  know  that  about  seven-tenths  of  your  body  is 
water,  and  that  some  plants  are  as  much  as  nine-tenths 
water!  What  a  terrible  place  this  world  would  be,  if  the 
water,  instead  of  flowing  "through  the  pores  of  the  ocean 
and  shores, ' '  were  to  go  away  entirely !  The  waving,  green 
grass  would  be  dried-up,  colorless  hay.  The  juicy  peaches 
and  oranges  would  shrivel  into  hard,  brown  knots.  As 
for  ourselves,  I  suppose  we  should  dry  up  and  look  as 
hideous  as  the  mummies  in  a  museum.  But,  as  the  poet 
says,  water  "changes,  but  cannot  die,"  so  we  shall  never 
have  such  a  terrible  thing  as  a  waterless  world. 

The  other  day,  I  heard  a  boy  fretting  because,  when 
he  wanted  to  wash  his  hands,  the  water  would  not  run. 
Someone  was  drawing  water  on  the  floor  below,  and  so 
none  could  come  to  the  upper  floors.  After  a  moment, 
his  grandfather  said,  "I  wonder,  Harold,  how  you  would 


WATER  203 

have  liked  the  old  town-pump  that  we  used  when  I  was 
a  boy.  Every  family  on  the  block  had  to  get  its  water 
from  that  pump.  We  boys  often  used  to  stand  in  line  half 
an  hour  before  we  could  fill  our  pails  and  carry 
them  home." 

6 1  But,  to  make  up  for  it,  you  had  all  the  fun  of  living 
in  the  country,"  said  Harold. 

"Country!"  replied  the  old  gentleman.  "Not  at  all! 
We  lived  right  here  in  New  York  City ;  but  it  wasn't  until 
1842,  when  I  was  eight  years  old,  that  there  was  a  decent 
supply  of  water.  Before  that,  the  water  was  all  pumped 
from  wells  inside  the  city.  There  was  never  enough  of 
it,  and  the  water  was  so  likely  to  catch  dirt  from  the 
street  or  drainage  from  the  houses,  that  it  often  made 
people  ill. 

"You  see,  in  those  days,  people  knew  nothing  about 
germs.  They  did  not  know,  as  we  do  now,  that  typhoid, 
cholera,  and  many  other  diseases  grow  from  living  seeds. 
But  they  found  that  the  city  well-water  was  not  whole- 
some and  New  Yorkers  paid  thousands  of  dollars  every 
year  for  water  that  was  carted  in  hogsheads  from  New 
Jersey  and  Long  Island.  As  for  the  foreign  ships  that 
came  to  New  York  harbor,  many  of  them  took  on  board 
in  casks  before  they  left  Europe,  enough  water  to  last  un- 
til they  got  home  again.  It  must  have  tasted  pretty  stale 
and  unpleasant,  after  standing  so  long,  but  the  sailors 
were  afraid  to  drink  New  York  water. 

"At  last,  what  with  the  people  having  cholera,  and 
the  wells  running  dry,  it  was  decided  that  New  York  must 
have  a  new  water  supply  from  the  Croton  River,  about 
forty  miles  away.  It  took  seven  years  to  build  the  water- 


204  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

works.  The  Croton  Eiver  was  dammed,  a  reservoir  built, 
and  the  water  brought  in  pipes  down  to  the  city.  To  get 
the  pipes  across  the  Harlem  River,  they  spent  a  million 
dollars  in  building  High  Bridge.  Then  they  made  a 
reservoir  at  Central  Park  and  another  on  Murray  Hill, 
at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-Second  Street.  They  thought 
they  had  enough  water  to  last  as  long  as  the  city  lasted ; 
but,  bless  me,"  the  old  gentleman  added,  with  a  sigh, 
"they  never  dreamed  how  fast  the  city  would  grow.  By 
1885,  they  had  to  build  a  larger  dam  and  aqueduct,  but 
still  people  poured  into,  New  York,  and  in  another  twenty 
years,  even  this  second  supply  was  too  little.  In  1907, 
they  began  the  new  water-works,  to  bring  the  water  from 
the  Catskill  mountains — over  a  hundred  miles  away.  I 
hear  that  they  are  talking  of  turning  the  old  Central 
Park  reservoir  into  a  pleasure-garden.  As  for  the 
Murray  Hill  reservoir,  it  long  ago  was  torn  down  and  the 
Public  Library  built  where  it  stood. ' ' 

A  few  days  after  this,  Harold,  his  grandfather  and 
I  all  went  to  a  great  pageant  held  in  Central  Park  to 
celebrate,  after  ten  years  of  hard  work,  the  opening  of 
the  new  Catskill  water  system.  It  was  just  seventy- 
five  years  since  the  first  Croton  water-works  were  built. 
The  pageant  was  called  "The  Good  Gift  of  Water"  and 
it  showed  how  useful  water  is  and  how  New  York  had 
sent  to  the  mountains  for  this  good  gift.  More  than 
25,000  public  school  children  were  invited  to  take  part. 
It  ought  all  to  have  been  very  lovely,  but  some  mischie- 
vous clouds  evidently  thought  that  a  pageant  in  honor  of 
water  would  not  be  complete  without  water.  So  the 
clouds  gathered  and  gathered,  and  when  the  time  for  the 
pageant  came,  down  they  fell  in  bucketsfull  of  rain — so 


WATER 


205 


the  "good  gift  of 
water"  was  presented  to 
everyone ! 

If  you  look  at  the  map, 
you  will   see,   up   in  the 
mountains,    about    120 
miles  from  New  York  City 
the  great  Ashokan  reser- 
voir. The  distance  around 
it   is  forty  miles   and   it 
holds  132,000,000,000  gal- 
lons of  water.  Seven  little 
villages  were  torn  down 
to    make    room    for    it. 
From  this  great  reservoir, 
runs-  the  aqueduct — which 
means     simply     "water- 
leader."     It  is   an   enor- 
mous  underground   pipe, 
so  big  that  a  man  could 
stand   with  another  man 
on  his  shoulders  and  an- 
other   on    his    shoulders, 
inside    of    it.     At    Storm 
King  mountain,  just  south 
of  Cornwall,  a  great  tun- 
nel was  built,  far,  far  un- 
der the  bed  of  the  Hudson 
River.     At    the    Kenisco 
Eeservoir,    the    water   is 
thrown  high  into  the  air 
by  a  thousand  fountains. 
This  is  to  air  the  water,  so 


206  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

as  to  destroy  any  unpleasant  odor  or  taste  that  it  may 
have  gotten  in  travelling  so  many  miles  underground. 
Further  along,  the  water  is  gathered  into  other  reservoirs, 
the  Hill  View  and  the  Jerome  Park  reservoirs.  These 
reservoirs  are  necessary,  so  as  to  have  some  water  ready 
in  case  anything  should  happen  to  the  aqueduct  and 
the  water  supply  be  for  a  time  shut  off.  To  carry  the 
water  to  Brooklyn,  another  tunnel  had  to  be  dug  under 
the  East  River.  Then,  after  supplying  Brooklyn,  the 
great  water-pipe  burrowed  again  under  the  Bay,  to  carry 
its  priceless  gift  of  clean  water  to  Staten  Island.  Do 
you  wonder  that  it  took  ten  years  and  about  two  hundred 
million  dollars  to  build  such  a  marvellous  water-system  ? 

WATER 

Do  you  not  think  it  is  interesting  to  hunt  out  all  the  places  where  water 
occurs  around  us?  If  your  teacher  can  give  you  a  test  tube  and  an  alcohol 
lamp,  try  putting  some  dry  sawdust,  some  starch  or  sugar  or  a  piece  of 
wood  in  the  tube.  Hold  it  over  the  flame  and  explain  where  the  water  comes 
from,  which  will  collect  inside  the  tube.  What  does  this  experiment  suggest 
about  the  composition  of  other  "dry"  things? 

How  important  is  water  to  life? 

Get  out  a  map  of  New  York  State  and  trace,  from  this  chapter,  the  water 
system  of  New  York  City.  Why  should  New  York  have  gone  so  far  to 
get  good  water?  Why  should  New  York  have  spent  so  much  money? 

Do  you  have  pumps  in  your  town  ?  Or  do  you  draw  water  from  faucets  ? 
Where  does  this  water  come  from?  How  is  it  purified?  How  good  is  it? 
To  answer  this  question  accurately,  write  to  the  Health  Officer  of  your 
city  or  town. 


CHAPTER  IV 

HOW  RIVERS  ARE  WASHED 

IT  is  a  great  thing  for  a  city  to  have  such  a  supply 
of  safe  water  as  New  York  now  has.  I  say  "safe,"  in- 
stead of  "pure,"  because  "pure"  means  free  from 
germs,  and  all  natural  water  has  germs  in  it.  When 
water  evaporates,  it  leaves  the  germs  behind,  so  that 
clouds  and  steam  are  really  "pure."  You  can  get  really 
pure  water  by  holding  a  clean,  cold  plate  over  the  tea- 
kettle's steam.  Chemists  do  this  in  their  work-shops 
and  such  water  is  called  distilled  water.  Rain  is  really 
distilled  water,  but  as  it  falls,  it  collects  dust  from  the 
air  and  from  washing  over  dirty  roofs  and  falling  into 
dirty  tanks  or  barrels.  Haven't  you  noticed  how  bright 
and  clean  the  air  is  after  a  hard  rain!  That  is  because 
the  rain  has  washed  all  the  dirt  out  of  it. 

Now,  the  Catskill  water,  while  it  may,  and  does,  con- 
tain many  harmless  germs,  has  almost  no  disease  germs 
in  it.  It  comes  from  up  in  the  mountains,  where  there 
are  no  factories  to  hurt  the  water  with  chemicals  and 
no  towns  to  empty  their  sewers  into  the  streams.  All 
the  way  to  New  York,  it  is  carried  in  a  great  pipe,  with 
tight  joints,  so  there  is  no  danger  of  any  sewer  water 
leaking  in. 

There  are  only  two  sorts  of  disease  germs  that  are 
often  found  in  water.  They  are  typhoid  fever  and  chol- 
era. Of  course  you  realize  that  in  any  picture  they  are 
a  million  times  too  big.  It  takes  a  very,  very  strong 

207 


208  fcA  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

microscope  to  see  them  at  all.  Water  may  look  clear  and 
sparkling  as  cut-glass,  and  yet  be  swarming  with  invis- 
ible typhoid  germs. 

Now,  how  do  these  germs  get  into  the  water?  If 
you  remember  that  the  earth  is  a  great  sponge,  soaked 
with  "ground  water,"  and  then  look  at  the  picture,  you 
will  see  just  what  happens.  Suppose,  in  the  upper  house, 


JONES  HOUSE 

I 


SMITH  HOUSE 
I 


Mr.  Jones  lives,  and  in  the  lower  house,  Mr.  Smith.  You 
can  see  all  the  drainage  from  the  Jones  barnyard  and 
outhouses  and  from  the  broken  sewer-pipe  trickling  down 
through  the  pores  of  the  ground  into  the  ' '  ground-water. ' ' 
When  anyone  has  typhoid,  the  waste  from  his  body 
is  full  of  typhoid  germs,  which  ought  to  be  killed  with 
some  disinfectant,  like  chloride  of  lime.  But  suppose 
one  of  the  Jones  family  falls  ill  with  typhoid  and  the 


HOW  RIVERS  ARE  WASHED  209 

waste  is  just  thrown  down  the  sewer-pipe  with  the  other 
sewage,  and  allowed  to  trickle  down  into  the  ground- 
water.  You  can  see  that  the  Jones  well  will  be  safe 
enough,  for  the  water  runs  away  from  it,  downhill,  but 
the  Smith  well  will  soon  be  getting  the  typhoid  germs — 
and  so  may  the  river  even.  If  the  Smith  family  falls 
ill  and  their  waste  also  falls  into,  the  river,  the  disease 
will  presently  appear  in  some  family  further  downstream. 

Over  and  over  again,  cities  have  had  thousands  of 
cases  of  typhoid  and  many,  many  deaths,  just  because 
some  ignorant,  careless  person  was  throwing  typhoid 
germs  into  its  water-supply.  And,  even  where  there  is 
no  typhoid,  water  that  has  sewage  in  it  is  unwholesome 
and  liable  to  give  people  diarrho3a  and  stomach-trouble, 
besides  which,  it  is  pretty  disgusting  to  think  of,  isn't  it! 

Most  great  cities  are  built  near  rivers,  because,  in  early 
days,  the  settlers  wanted  water  to  turn  their  mills,  to 
bathe  in  and  to  drink.  Then  too,  before  there  were 
railroads,  the  rivers  were  much  used  for  travel.  So,  if 
you  look  on  the  map,  you  will  see  that  all  the  big  cities 
are  near  some  body  of  water — New  York  on  the  Hudson, 
Philadelphia  on  the  Delaware,  Chicago  on  Lake  Michigan, 
etc.  Now,  with  cities  all  along  its  banks,  how  is  it  possi- 
ble for  a  river  to  be  "kept  clean  and  fit  to  drink?  It  isn't 
possible.  And  yet  many  cities  have  not  the  money  to 
build,  as  New  York  did,  over  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  of  aqueduct  to  carry  water  to  them  from  the  moun- 
tains. What  is  to  be  done  about  it? 

For  many  years,  people  did  nothing  about  it.  Some 
£>f  the  more  careful  ones  boiled  the  water,  and  so  killed 
the  germs,  but  most  people  just  drank  the  water  as  it 

14 


210  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

was  and  every  now  and  then,  a  great  wave  of  typhoid 
would  sweep  through  the  city  and  hundreds  or  thousands 
would  die. 

The  city  of  Cologne,  which  is  on  the  Rhine,  used  to 
be  extremely  dirty,  and  famous  for  its  evil-smelling, 
narrow  streets.  A  poet  once  wrote  about  it, 

"The  river  Rhine,  it  is  well  known, 
Doth  wash  the  city  of  Cologne. 
But  say,  ye  nymphs,  what  power  divine 
Shall  henceforth  wash  the  river  Rhine? " 

These  verses  were  written  long  ago,  and  Cologne 
is  now  as  clean  as  any  other  city.  We  know  now  that 
rivers  actually  can  wash  themselves  and  many  cities 
have  great  washing  places,  where  the  river  water  is 
made  clean  and  wholesome. 

"How  can  a  river  be  washed?"  you  will  ask.  There 
are  several  ways.  First,  its  water  can  be  cleaned,  as 
I  said  before,  by  evaporating  and  turning  into  clouds; 
but  we  cannot  drink  clouds  and,  as  we  know,  rain-water 
immediately  gets  dirty  from  the  air  and  from  falling 
on  dirty  roofs  and  other  surfaces. 

Another  way  in  which  streams  are  partly  cleaned 
is  simply  by  having  more  and  more  water  added  to  them 
from  other  brooks  running  into  them  on  their  way  ocean- 
ward.  This,  of  course,  means  that  the  sewage  in  them 
is  more  and  more  diluted — beside  which,  typhoid  germs 
do  not  usually  live  very  long  in  water,  and  after  they 
have  gone  a  good  many  miles,  most  of  them  die.  The 
sun,  beating  down  on  the  water,  kills  a  good  many  germs 
and  where  the  water  runs  slowly,  the  heavier  bits  of  dirt 


HOW  RIVERS  ARE  WASHED  211 

sink  to  the  bottom — and  so  the  water  grows  clearer  the 
further  it  goes. 

The  principal  way,  however,  in  which  water  is  washed, 
is  by  being  strained,  or  "filtered,"  through  the  pores  of 
the  earth.  If  you  have  ever  been  in  the  kitchen  at 
jelly-making  time,  you  know  that  the  jelly  is  "cleared" 
by  dripping  slowly  through  a  thick,  canton-flannel  bag. 
Now  this  is  very  much  like  Mother  Nature's  way  of  clear- 
ing her  waters.  If  you  dig  a  hole,  you  know  that,  the 
further  down  you  go,  the  coarser  the  earth  becomes.  On 
top,  is  a  layer  of  fine  loam.  Below  this,  there  is  fine, 
rather  sandy  soil.  Still  deeper,  you  come  upon  gravel, 
and  finally,  you  strike  rock  or  clay.  The  rain  or  river 
water  drips  slowly  down  through  these  layers  and  by 
the  time  it  gets  to  the  solid  rock  or  clay  is  beautifully 
clean  and  free  of  germs. 

The  cities  that  filter  their  water  imitate  Mother  Na- 
ture's plan.  First,  they  run  the  river-water  through 
pipes  into  a  "settling  tank,"  which,  like  a  pond,  gives 
the  bits  of  dirt  and  stone  a  chance  to  settle  to  the  bot- 
tom. Next,  the  water  is  run  off  onto  a  "filter  bed." 
This  is  a  great  concrete  pit,  about  six  feet  deep.  On 
top,  is  a  layer  of  fine  sand,  about  a  yard  deep.  Below 
this,  is  about  a  foot  of  course  sand,  next,  a  layer  of  fine 
gravel,  then  a  bed  of  coarse  gravel,  then  pebbles,  and 
finally,  on  the  bottom,  a  set  of  pipes  to  carry  away  the 
clean  water  into  a  covered  tank,  or  reservoir. 

Germs  are  so  tiny  that  I  suppose  you  are  wondering 
how  any  sand  can  be  fine  enough  to  prevent  them  from 
slipping  between  its  grains.  You  are  right  in  wondering, 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

for  there  isn't  in  the  whole  world  any  sand  fine  enough 
to  do  it,  without  the  help  of  the  germs  themselves. 

What  happens  is  this.  When  the  water  is  poured 
upon  the  sand,  many  of  the  harmless  germs  stick  to  the 
sand-grains  and  cover  themselves  with  a  sort  of  slimy 
jelly.  Here  they  stay  and  collect,  until  a  layer  of  slime 
is  formed  all  over  the  top  of  the  sand.  This  slime 
catches  the  typhoid  and  cholera  and  other  dangerous 
germs,  like  a  trap.  Of  course,  when  this  jelly-like  coat 
gets  so  thick  that  even  the  water  cannot  very  well  trickle 
through  it,  it  has  to  be  scraped  off.  For  awhile  after  this 
cleaning,  the  filter  doesn't  work  well,  until  the  busy,  use- 
ful, little  germs  begin,  again,  to  spread  their  net  of  slime 
and  catch  their  dangerous  brothers. 

When  I  first  saw  one  of  these  filter-beds,  I  thought 
how  clever  the  man  was  who  invented  it,  but  the  engineer 
who  was  showing  me  around  said  that  the  inventor  only 
imitated  Nature.  Then  he  explained  to  me,  as  I  have 
just  done  to  you,  that  the  earth  is  really  a  great  filter, 
with  fine  soil,  full  of  germs,  on  top,  and  under  this, 
coarser  and  coarser  sand  and  gravel,  through  which  the 
water  trickles  and  becomes  purified.  That  is  why  artes- 
ian well-water  is  usually  so  pure — because  these  wells 
are  very  deep  and  the  water  has  been  filtered  by  going 
through  a  great  many  feet  of  earth. 

In  Parkersburg,  West  Virginia,  instead  of  building  a 
filter,  they  have  let  Mother  Nature  do  their  work  for 
them.  About  five  feet  under  the  Ohio  River,  they  have 
run  a  line  of  trenches  and  in  each  trench  is  a  pipe.  The 
river  water,  trickling  down  through  the  sand  and  gravel, 


HOW  RIVERS  ARE  WASHED  213 

enters  the  pipes  as  nicely  filtered  as  possible.  All  the 
city  has  to  do  is  to  carry  it  away  through  the  pipes  into 
reservoirs,  so  as  to  have  it  ready  in  case  of  fire,  or  if 
the  pipe  should  break,  or  any  other  accident  occur. 

But  suppose  the  water-pipe  should  become  cracked, 
and  sewage  should  leak  in  through  the  hole,  or  suppose 
the  wall  of  the  filter-bed  is  not  tight,  and  germs  should 
get  in  that  way,  or  suppose,  even,  that  we  live  where  the 
water  is  not  filtered  and  is  dangerous — what  shall  we 
do,  then? 

Some  people  use  little  filters  that  screw  onto  the 
faucet,  but  it  is  worse  than  useless  to  do  this.  The 
water  comes  through  entirely  too  fast  to  do  any  good 
and  the  filter  soon  gets  very  dirty.  It  is  difficult  to  clean 
it  and  a  dirty  filter  makes  the  water  much  worse  than 
it  was  before. 

The  best  thing  to  do  is  to  boil  the  water.  Germs  can 
stand  being  frozen,  but  they  cannot  endure  boiling  water. 
So,  if  you  are  travelling  and  are  uncertain  about  the 
water,  or  if  your  own  city  water  is  not  safe,  you  can  al- 
ways make  it  safe  by  boiling  it.  This  makes  it  taste 
rather  queer,  because  the  air  is  all  driven  out  of  it  in 
boiling,  but  if  you  shake  the  water  in  a  bottle,  or  pour 
it  from  one  glass  to  another,  to  get  some  air  into  it,  the 
' ' flat"  taste  will  disappear. 

If  we  all  realized  how  much  good  health  depends 
upon  clean  water,  and  that  we  must  all  work  together 
to  get  clean  water  and  to  keep  it  clean,  I  think  we  should 
all  make  up  our  minds  to  do  three  things : — 

First. — We  should  not  waste  water  by  leaving  leaky 
pipes  unmended,  and  by  letting  faucets  run  or  drip.  It 


214  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

costs  a  great  deal  of  money  to  build  water-works  and  to 
run  them  for  a  large  city,  and  every  citizen  ought  to  do 
his  part  by  using  all  the  water  he  needs,  but  not  wasting 
it.  Just  measure,  some  day,  the  water  that  runs  from 
a  leaky  faucet  in  one  hour.  Then  calculate  how  much 
water  is  lost  if  a  thousand  families  let  their  faucets  run 
for  one  day.  You  will  be  amazed  to  see  what  a  waste 
there  is.  In  some  cities,  the  water  used  by  each  family 
is  measured  and  paid  for  accordingly.  This  always 
teaches  the  families  to  be  more  careful —  but  in  a  city  of 
really  good  neighbors,  I  am  sure  everyone  would  be  care- 
ful to  avoid  Waste,  even  if  he  did  not  have  to  pay  for  it. 

Second. — We  ought  never  to  do  anything  that  could 
hurt  the  water-supply.  We  should  never,  in  the  country, 
throw  sewage  or  any  other  refuse  into  a  stream,  or  near 
a  well.  If  any  member  of  the  family  has  typhoid,  or  any 
contagious  disease,  the  waste  from  the  sick-room  should 
be  disinfected  or  destroyed,  so  that  the  germs  may  be 
killed.  We  should  also  obey  the  laws  about  fishing  or 
bathing  in  any  water  that  is  used  as  a  reservoir. 

Third. — We  should  elect  honest  men  to  serve  on  our 
Board  of  Water  Supply,  men  who  will  do  their  best  to  see 
that  the  water  is  not  injured,  that  the  filter  is  in  good 
order,  and  that  the  pipes  are  in  proper  condition,  so  that 
the  people  may  have  plenty  of  clean,  safe  water. 

If  all  you  school-children  will  only  remember  these 
three  things,  if  you  will  never  uselessly  waste  water,  if 
you  will  never  injure  the  water-supply,  and  if,  when  you 
are  grown,  you  will  elect  good  men  to  take  care  of  the 
water,  the  United  States  will  have  the  best  water-supply 
in  the  world.  Nature  has  been  very  generous  to  this 


HOW  RIVERS  ARE  WASHED  215 

country.  She  has  given  us  a  wonderful  supply  of  good 
water.  Let  us  show  our  gratitude  by  using  her  "good 
gift"  to  make  our  cities  healthy  and  happy. 

HOW   RIVERS   ARE   WASHED 

What  is  the  difference  between  "pure"  and  "safe"  water?  Make  some 
pure  water  and  explain  how  it  has  been  purified. 

What  are  the  only  sorts  of  disease  germs  usually  found  in  water? 

Explain  how  such  germs  could  get  into  a  water  supply. 

Why  are  most  cities  located  on  bodies  of  water  ?  How  may  this  location 
affect  the  purity  of  the  water  supply?  How  far  do  these  statements  apply 
to  your  town  also? 

If  your  town  has  no  purification  plant,  what  do  people  in  your  town 
do  to  get  safe  water  ? 

How  can  the  water  of  a  lake  or  ri¥er  be  "washed"  so  as  to  be  fit 
to  drink?  Could  you  make  a  model  of  a  filter  that  will  work?  Does  the 
process  you  show  take  out  germs? 

Explain  how  germs  help  to  get  themselves  out  of  the  water. 

Explain  why  house-filters  are  unsafe?  What  could  you  do  when  on  a 
•picnic,  or  when  travelling,  or  if  your  city  waterworks  failed,  to  get 
safe  water? 

Wliat  three  steps  can  people  take  to  make  sure  of  having  good  water  in 
their  communities?  Find  out  how  far  people  in  your  home  do  these  things. 


CHAPTER  V 

CLEAN  ICE 

WHEN  I  was  a  little  girl,  I  had  a  visit  from  my  cousin, 
who  had  always  lived  in  Cuba.  In  her  home,  frost  and 
snow  were  quite  unknown,  and  she  had  actually  never 
seen  a  piece  of  ice. 

It  was  a  bitter  cold  day  when  she  arrived  in  New 
York,  but  she  was  so  eager  to  see  what  ice  was  like  that 
we  put  on  our  warmest  wfaps  and  walked  over  to  Central 
Park.  When  little  Irma  saw  the  dazzling  ice  and  the 
merry,  red-cheeked  skaters  darting  back  and  forth  over 
it,  she  stared  and  stared.  Then  she  timidly  put  out  her 
foot  and  tapped  the  ice.  Next,  she  cautiously  stepped 
out  on  the  frozen  surface.  At  last,  she  jumped  up  and 
down,  her  eyes  wide  with  wonder,  exclaiming,  "I  can 
stand  on  the  water!  Just  think,  I  can  stand  and  run 
and  jump  on  the  water!  When  I  go  home,  I  shall  tell 
Mammy  Dinah,  but  she'll  think  I'm  fooling — she  will 
never  believe  it ! " 

Now,  I  had  never  before  thought  of  ice  as  anything 
marvelous.  I  had  always  taken  it  as  a  matter  of  course,  as 
something  that  you  skated  on  in  Winter  and  that  the  ice- 
man left  at  the  basement  door  in  Summer.  But  Irma's  ex- 
citement and  wonder  at  the  miracle  of  solid  water  set  me 
to  wondering,  too.  Ever  since  that  day,  ice  has  seemed  to 
me  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  wonderful  things  in 
the  world. 

216 


CLEAN  ICE 


217 


218  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Because  it  really  is  so  wonderful,  and  because  it  is 
so  useful  and  even  necessary  to  both  country  and  city 
people,  I  want  to  tell  you  something  about  it.  As  good 
neighbors,  we  ought  all,  at  least,  to  know  just  what  makes 
ice  dirty  and  how  our  city  can  get  clean,  cheap  ice. 

If  you  want  to  see  how  ice  forms,  take  a  pail  of  water 


Crevasse  on  Elliott  Glacier,  north  side  of  Mount  Hood. 

outdoors  on  a  cold,  winter  day  and  lay  a  mirror  in  the 
bottom  of  the  pail.  This  will  give  a  light  background, 
against  which  you  can  see  the  crystals  and  if  you  have 
a  magnifying-glass  to  look  through,  so  much  the  better. 
Little  by  little,  you  will  see  thin  fingers  of  ice  creep 
out  from  the  sides  of  the  pail.  Each  of  these  fingers  is 
really  like  a  six-sided  lead  pencil,  and  is  made  of  count- 
less, flat,  six-sided  crystals,  laid  on  edge,  side  by  side. 
In  the  picture,  you  will  see  that  all  the  '  *  ice-flowers ' ' — 


CLEAN  ICE  219 

though  they  are  of  many  beautiful  patterns — are  alike 
in  having  six  sides,  or  divisions. 

The  ice-fingers  lace  and  interlace,  until  at  last,  a  thin 
film  of  ice  covers  the  whole  surface  of  the  water.  What 
happens  next?  Next,  though  you  can  no  longer  see  it, 
the  ice-fingers,  instead  of  growing  parallel  to  the  top  of 
the  water,  start  shooting  straight  downward,  and  so  the 
ice  grows  deeper  and  deeper. 

When  we  talked  about  water,  you  remember  that  we 
found  that  if  water  stands  in  a  reservoir,  much  of  the 
dirt  settles  to  the  bottom  and  many  of  the  germs  die  from 
the  sunlight,  or  from  lack  of  food — and  so  the  water  is 
purified.  Now,  very  much  the  same  thing  happens  to 
water  when  it  freezes.  The  first  thin  film  of  ice  spreads 
a  "coat  of  mail"  over  the  water,  so  that  the  wind  can 
no  longer  stir  it  up.  Then,  the  water  being  perfectly 
still,  all  the  tiny  bits  of  dirt  and  other  impurities  settle 
to  the  bottom,  just  as  they  do  in  a  glass  of  dirty  water 
if  it  stands  long  enough. 

"But  how  about  the  germs?"  you  will  ask.  That 
is  just  what  the  doctors  and  scientists  asked,  and  in 
order  to  find  out,  they  filled  glass  tubes  with  water  full 
of  typhoid  germs  and  froze  them  solid.  They  found,  to 
their  horror,  that  while  many  of  the  germs  died,  many 
were  still  alive  after  days  of  freezing.  In  fact,  they 
lived  longer  than  they  might  have  done  in  unfrozen  water. 
Of  course,  this  led  many  people  to  be  afraid  of  river  or 
lake  ice  and  to  prefer  ice  made  by  machinery  from  dis- 
tilled or  filtered  water. 

But  the  wisest  men  know  that  Mother  Nature  is  far 
wiser  than  they.  Two  of  these  wise  men,  Professor 


220  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Sedgwick,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Professor  Winslow,  of 
New  York,  decided  that  the  experiments  did  not  really 
prove  that  ice  is  dangerous  when  Nature  makes  it  011  the 
surface  of  a  lake,  but  only  that  it  is  dangerous  when 
frozen  solid  in  a  scientist's  workshop.  So  they  decided 
to  fix  up  a  make-believe  lake.  They  put  about  ten  gal- 
lons of  pure  water  in  a  big  wine-cask  and  wrapped  the 
sides  of  the  cask  very  thoroughly,  so  that  the  cold  could 
not  get  to  the  water  from  the  sides,  but  only  the  top- 
just  as  it  does  in  a  real  lake.  Then  they  put  some  typhoid 
germs  in  the  water  and  set  it  where  the  top  of  it 
would  freeze. 

When  they  examined  the  ice,  they  found  in  it  only 
about  one-tenth  as  many  germs  as  were  in  the  water  be- 
low. A  week  later,  they  again  tested  the  ice  and  found 
that  only  one-tenth  of  these  germs  were  still  alive;  that 
is,  of  the  original  germs,  only  one-tenth  of  one-tenth,  or 
one  in  a  hundred  was  alive.  At  the  end  of  three  weeks, 
they  tried  the  ice  again  and  now  found  that  less  than  one 
in  a  thousand  of  the  germs  was  alive.  So  it  was  shown 
pretty  plainly  that  Mother  Nature,  when  she  freezes 
water,  cleans  it  about  as  well  as  one  of  our  fine,  modern 
filter-plants. 

Nature's  method  is  very  simple.  You  know  that,  if 
you  boil  a  kettle  full  of  dirty  water,  the  steam  is  per- 
fectly pure  and  all  the  dirt  is  left  in  the  bottom  of  the 
kettle.  Now  if,  instead  of  heating  the  water,  you  freeze 
it,  the  same  thing  happens.  Like  steam,  crystals  are 
perfectly  pure — we  often  hear  the  phrase,  "as  clear  as 
a  crystal. ' '  As  the  six-sided  ice  crystals  form,  they  shut 
outside  their  walls  of  glass  every  germ,  every  impurity. 


CLEAN  ICE  221 

The  fine,  thin  fingers  of  the  frost,  feeling  their  way 
downward  through  the  water,  thrust  aside  all  the  air 
and  germs  and  leave  them  in  the  water  below. 

Now  here  is  where  the  first  experimenters  made  their 
mistake.  They  froze  all  the  water  in  the  glass  tubes 
solid.  The  crystals  pushed  the  germs  away  until  there 
was  110  water  left — then,  there  being  no  place  for  the 
germs  to  go,  they  were  caught  between  the  sides  of  the 
crystals  and  embedded  in  the  ice.  This  very  thing  some- 
times happens  in  shallow  pools — they  freeze  clear  to  the 
bottom,  and  ice  from  such  pools  is  unfit  to  use.  But  on 
a  fairly  deep  lake  or  river,  the  dirt  and  germs,  as  the  ice 
freezes,  are  almost  all  pushed  into  the  water  below  just 
as  they  were  in  Professor  Sedgwick's  cask. 

Then  how  is  it  that  lake  and  river  ice  is  often  dirty? 
Suppose  we  go,  in  imagination,  to  one  of  the  ice-houses 
on  the  Hudson  Eiver.  We  shall  see,  that,  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ice,  leaves,  weeds  and  twigs  have  been  caught 
and  frozen  fast.  Then  too,  the  men  and  horses  who  tend 
the  ice-ploughs,  mark  off  the  ice  into  strips  and  squares, 
and  steer  it  through  the  water  to  the  ice-house,  have 
tramped  all  over  the  ice  and  left  it  muddy  and  dirty. 

Beside  this,  the  ice  has  sometimes  been  "tapped"  or 
"flooded."  When  it  snows,  the  ice-farmer  feels  that  his 
ice  is  in  danger,  for  all  skaters  know  that  the  snow  is 
like  a  warm  blanket  which  keeps  the  cold  air  away  from 
the  ice  and  hinders  its  freezing  quickly.  So  he  cuts 
holes  through  the  ice  and  lets  the  water  flood  over  the 
snow  and  freeze. 

Now,  the  snow  is  full  of  dust  that  it  has  washed  out 
of  the  air,  and  the  water,  coming  up  from  under  the  ice, 


222 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


has  in  it  all  the  dirt  and  germs  which  the  ice-crystals 
had  pushed  downward,  so  you  can  easily  see  that 
"flooded"  or  "  snow  "-ice  will  have  a  dirty  layer  on  top. 
This  flooding  of  ice  ought  not  to  be  allowed  and  in  any 
case,  the  dirty  top  layer  of  ice  should  be  shaved  off  before 
it  is  stored. 


Harvesting  Ice. 

If  you  look  at  the  picture,  you  will  see  that  the  ice- 
house has  a  chute  something  like  a  tobaggan- slide  out- 
side it.  There  is  an  endless  chain  that  carries  the  blocks 
of  ice  to  the  top  of  this  slide,  where  they  are  stored  away 
in  the  ice-house.  They  are  packed  with  hay,  sawdust, 
or  paper  to  keep  out  the  air  and  prevent  melting.  The 
top  of  the  house  has  an  air-space  for  ventilation  and 
below  are  drain-pipes,  to  carry  off  the  waste  water. 
Here  the  ice  is  kept  for  many  months  and  every  day 
makes  the  ice  purer,  for  germs,  like  all  living  things,  need 


CLEAN  ICE 


223 


food  and  gradually  die  in  the  clean  ice,  where  there 
is  none. 

Right  here  is  where  natural  ice  from  lakes  or  rivers  is 


An  Ice  Machine. 

often  really  better  than  artificial  ice,  frozen  by  ma- 
chinery. The  machine-made  ice  can  be  made  all  the 
year  round,  so  there  is  no  use  in  making  a  lot  and  stor- 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

ing  it.  The  result  is  that  any  germs  that  may  be  in  it 
are  not  given  time  to  die  off. 

The  process  of  making  artificial  ice  is  hard  to  under- 
stand unless  one  knows  something  about  machinery  and 
has  studied  physics,  but  most  of  you  have  seen  an  ice- 
cream freezer  and  know  that  it  is  the  melting  ice  and 
salt  that  freezes  the  cream.  Now,  an  ice-machine  is 
arranged  on  the  same  principle.  There  are  a  number 
of  big  cans,  and  along  the  sides  of  these  cans  are  pipes 
full  of  ice-cold  salt  and  water.  The  cans  are  filled  with 
filtered,  or  sometimes  distilled,  water,  which  soon  freezes 
into  a  clear  cake  of  ice. 

But  here  comes  in  the  same  trouble  that  the  scientists 
had  when  they  froze  the  water  solid  in  their  glass  tubes. 
If  you  look  at  a  cake  of  artificial  ice,  you  will  often  see 
that,  while  the  outside  is  beautifully  clear,  the  center 
is  whiteish,  and  if  you  look  closely,  you  can  see  that  this 
"core"  is  a  mass  of  air-bubbles  and  even  of  dirt  specks. 
The  ice  did  its  best  to  be  clear,  but  there  was  no  spare 
water  to  push  the  dirt  into.  Some  ice-makers  settle 
this  trouble  by  not  letting-  all  the  water  freeze.  This 
extra  water,  containing  all  the  air  and  dirt,  is  thrown 
out,  and  the  ice  is  all  clean  and  clear. 

Another  trouble  about  artificial  ice,  however,  is  that 
sometimes  the  cans  are  not  clean  and  often  the  workmen 
have  to  walk  over  the  tops  of  the  cans,  and  so  dirt  falls 
into  them.  So  it  is  quite  possible,  unless  it  is  carefully 
made,  that  machine-ice  may  be  less  pure  than  natural  ice. 

But,  after  all,  a  block  of  ice  is  about  the  cleanest 
thing  in  the  world,  until  dirty  things  and  dirty  people 
touch  it.  The  other  day,  as  I  stood  in  a  corner  grocery. 


CLEAN  ICE 

I  watched  the  ice-man  bring  in  the  grocer's  ice.  Before 
he  could  get  to  the  back  of  his  wagon,  he  first  had  to 
"shoo"  off  of  the  step  two  ragged  little  boys  who  were 
quenching  their  thirst  by  licking  the  blocks  of  ice !  Next, 
he  hauled  down  a  beautiful,  clear  slab  and  dragged  it 
across  the  filthy  sidewalk.  As  he  did  so,  a  passing  ash- 
wagon  sent  a  fine  shower  of  ashes  all  over  the  ice.  He 
seized  the  ice  in  his  tongs,  but,  finding  it  too  heavy  to 
manage  in  this  way,  he  slung  it  on  his  back,  where  it 
rested  against  his  dirty,  sweaty,  flannel  shirt.  As  he 
entered  the  store,  the  grocer  swung  open  the  door  of  the 
big  refrigerator  and  in  went  the  ice — dirt  and  all.  Just 
then,  in  came  the  grocer's  wife,  with  a  pitcher  of  lemon- 
ade. "Just  let  me  have  a  piece  of  that  ice,  Jim,"  she 
said.  With  that,  she  picked  up  a  soiled  knife  from  the 
counter,  skillfully  chipped  off  a  piece  of  ice  and  plumped 
it  into  the  pitcher.  It  was  a  very  hot  day  and  I  was 
extremely  thirsty,  but  when  she  kindly  offered  me  a  glass 
of  the  lemonade,  I,  knowing  the  history  of  that  ice,  simply 
couldn't  accept  her  invitation. 

A  good  supply  of  clean,  cheap  ice  is  a  very  important 
thing  for  every  city.  Ice  keeps  the.  meat  from  Chicago 
and  the  apples  from  Oregon  fresh  until  they  reach  our 
tables.  By  using  ice,  our  navy  no  longer  lives,  as  it  used 
to  do,  on  salt  meat,  canned  stuff  and  other  unwholesome, 
preserved  food.  Ice  keeps  the  baby's  milk  sweet, 
soothes  the  fever  of  the  sick,  cools  our  theaters,  and 
makes  life  endurable  even  in  the  torrid,  midsummer  heat 
of  the  city. 

Ice  is  so  necessary  to  modern  life  that  in  the  past  few 
years  many  cities  have  talked  of  making  their  own  ice, 
and  a  few  have  done  it.  It  has  thus  far  proved  a  great 

15 


226  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

success.  The  little  town  of  Fernandina,  Florida,  makes 
ice  in  its  water  and  electric-light  plant.  Ice  used  to  be 
six  pounds  for  five  cents  in  Fernandina.  Since  the  city 
plant  was  started,  you  can  buy  fifteen  pounds  for  five 
cents.  At  Weatherf  ord,  Oklahoma,  the  city  ice  plant  has 
not  only  brought  down  the  price  of  ice,  but  has  given  a 
great  deal  away  to  the  poor  and  sick. 

And  now  what  ought  we,  as  good  neighbors,  to  remem- 
ber about  ice  1  Just  this : — 

First,  that  dirty,  cloudy  ice  may  be  dangerous  and 
ought  never  to  be  put  into  water  or  on  food. 

Second,  that  all  ice  should  be  carefully  handled  and 
before  it  is  used,  must  be  washed  in  clean  water. 

Third,  that  if  we  cannot  prevent  careless  people  from 
handling  the  ice — as  in  theaters,  cars,  and  so  on,  where 
porters  are  often  careless  in  filling  the  water-coolers — 
the  ice  ought  to  be  put  around  the  water-tank,  not  in  it. 

Fourth,  that  clean,  cheap  ice  is  very  necessary  for  a 
city's  health  and  that  many  cities  have  found  that  it  paid 
to  have  the  city  make  its  own  ice,  so  as  to  have  a  good 
and  low-priced  supply. 

CLEAN    ICE 

Try  the  experiment  suggested  in  this  book,  to  see  how  ice  crystals  form. 
Look  for  other  examples  of  ice  flowers  on  the  frosted  window  pane.  Are  the 
forms  anything  like  snow  flakes?  If  so — why? 

Try  to  explain  how  it  comes  that  natural  ice  may  be  freer  from  germs  and 
dirt,  than  the  water  from  which  it  is  formed. 

How  is  natural  ice  made  dirty  in  being  prepared  for  market?  How  does 
storage*  improve  the  purity  of  ice?  How  does  artificial  ice  compare  in  purity 
with  natural  ice? 

What  would  be  some  results  in  your  city,  if  there  should  be  no  ice 
obtainable  for  several  months  in  spring  and  summer? 

What  four  things  should  we  remember  about  ice? 

Which  of  these  things  can  we  ourselves  practice? 


CHAPTER  VI 

PURE  FOOD 

THE  other  day,  on  my  way  to  market,  I  met  my  neigh- 
bor, Mrs.  Frost,  She  looked  so  vexed  that  I  wondered 
what  could  be  the  matter ;  but  I  did  not  have  to  wonder 
long.  The  moment  she  caught  sight  of  me,  she  seized 
my  arm,  exclaiming,  "Now,  don't  tell  me  that  you  are 
going  to  buy  your  groceries  at  Smith's!  I've  simply 
had  to  give  up  trading  there." 

"Why!"  I  asked,  "Mr.  Smith  has  always  seemed  to 
me  quite  honest — he  never  gives  me  short  weight — and 
I'm  sure  his  store  is  kept  very  clean." 

"Oh,  I  daresay  he's  honest  and  clean  enough,"  re- 
plied Mrs.  Frost,  impatiently,  "but  his  things  are  so 
old-fashioned. ' ' 

"Old-fashioned!"  I  repeated,  "I  never  thought  of 
food  as  being  fashionable  or  unfashionable.  What  in 
the  world  do  you  mean!" 

"Well,  you  see,  Mr.  Frost  is  very  particular  about 
his  food.  He  always  insists  that  the  table  shall  be  as 
attractive  as  possible.  Then  too,"  she  added,  with  a 
sigh,  "Dorothy  and  Robert  have  such  delicate  appetites 
that  they  simply  will  not  eat  anything  that  isn't  tempt- 
ing. For  luncheon  yesterday,  I'd  planned  to  have  some 
nice  lamb  chops  and  French  green  peas,  with  rice,  and 
for  dessert,  a  raspberry-jam  roly-poly." 

"A  very  nice  luncheon,"  I  remarked. 

"Yes,  but  what  do  you  suppose!"  she  replied,  indig- 

227 


228  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

nantly.  " Smith  didn't  have  canned  peas,  or  rice,  or 
jam  that  was  fit  to  look  at!" 

"What  was  wrong  with  them!" 

"Why,  as  to  the  peas,  of  course  I  wanted  the  very 
best  French  peas — the  little  kind  that  have  such  a  lovely, 
fresh,  green  color.  He  didn't  have  any — tried  to  get  me 
to  buy  some  horrid,  dull  colored  ones  and  pretended  that 
the  green  ones  were  not  so  good.  With  the  rice,  it  was 
just  the  other  way  round.  I  wanted  nice,  pure  white 
rice  not  colored  in  any  way,  and  his  was  dull  and  brown- 
ish. As  for  the  raspberry  jam,  it  wasn't  a  pretty,  bright 
red,  at  all.  I  could  just  see  Dorothy  turning  up  her  nose 
at  it.  So  I  told  Mr.  Smith  that  I  really  must  have  nice- 
looking  food  and  that  I  should  trade  hereafter  at  Chase 
and  Logan 's. ' ' 

"But  Mrs.  Frost,"  I  protested,  "that  bright  green 
isn't  really  the  natural  color  of  the  peas,  at  all." 

"Isn't  it?  Are  you  sure?"  She  exclaimed.  "Why, 
I  always  understood  that,  in  France,  their  peas  were 
naturally  greener  than  ours." 

"No,  indeed,"  said  I,  "I've  seen  them  growing  in 
French  gardens,  and  they  are  just  like  American  peas. 
When  they  are  cooked,  they  turn  dull  green,  just  as  ours 
do.  That  beautiful,  *  fresh'  green  color  that  you  admire 
is  made  with  copper.  You  can  make  it  by  putting  salt 
water  on  a  copper  cent." 

"Dear  me,  what  a  pity!"  sighed  Mrs.  Frost,  "It 
looks  so  nice.  But,  anyhow,  there's  no  excuse  for  Smith's 
not  keeping  good,  pure,  white  rice,  and  I  certainly  shan't 
trade  with  him  any  more.  I  must  have  the  best  food  and 
the  most  tempting,  or  the  children  won't  eat  it."  With 


PURE  FOOD 

that,  off  she  marched,  to  buy  her  groceries  at  Chase 
and  Logan's. 

I  was  going  to  have  some  rice  pudding,  myself,  that 
day  and  as  Mr.  Smith  wrapped  up  my  package,  I  said, 
"Mr.  Smith,  will  you  tell  me  why  you  keep  only  this 
dull,  brownish  looking  rice?" 

He  looked  up  with  a  smile.     "Because  I'm  a  crank, 


A  Poor  Place  To  Buy  Food. 

I  suppose.  When  I  bought  this  store,  last  year,  I  made 
up  my  mind  to  sell  only  the  best  and  purest  foods.  This 
rice  is  the  way  Nature  meant  it  to  be,  with  its  outer  coat 
still  on.  The  outer  coat  is  full  of  mineral  salts  that 
help  to  keep  our  bodies  well.  But," — and  he  broke  the 
string  of  the  package  with  a  deft  jerk, — "people  like 
Mrs.  Frost  insist  on  having  what  they  call  'pure,  white' 
rice,  so  the  millers  polish  off  all  the  outer  coat  and  with 
it  a  lot  of  the  value  of  the  rice.  Same  way  with  dried  fruit. 
People  want  it  to  look  white  and  pretty,  so  instead  of 


230  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

buying  honest,  wholesome,  dried  peaches  like  the  sun- 
dried  ones  our  grandmothers  used  to  have,  they  buy 
the  light  colored  ones  that  are  bleached  with  sulphur. 
They  want  their  pickles  and  peas  and  beans  colored 
bright  green  with  copper,  and  their  jelly  and  catsup  dyed 
bright  red  with  coal-tar  dye.  IVe  tried  to  keep  only 
pure,  honest  go;ods,  but  people  like  Mrs.  Frost  make  it 


A  Good  Place  To  Buy  Food. 

mighty  hard.     I  don't  know  but  that  I'll  have  to  close 
up,  or  else  keep  impure  goods,  like  Chase  and  Logan." 

As  I  walked  home  with  my  package  of  rice,  I  got  to 
thinking  about  pure  food  and  wondering  what  my  neigh- 
bors and  I  could  do  to  help  Mr.  Smith,  for  I  didn't  want 
him  to  close  his  store — he  always  kept  his  place  so  clean. 
Everything  was  kept  under  glass,  or  in  air-tight  packages, 
so  no  dust  or  flies  could  get  in.  The  floor  and  counters 


PURE  FOOD 

were  always  spotless,  and  Mr.  Smith's  apron  and  hands 
always  seemed  freshly  washed.  I  really  wondered  how 
he  managed  it. 

As  I  walked  along,  thinking,  I  almost  bumped  into 
my  old  friend,  Dr.  Hardcastle.  ' '  Well,  well, ' '  said  he,  with 
a  laugh,  * '  You  look  terribly  serious.  What .'s  the  matter  f ' ' 

As  I  told  him  about  Mr.  Smith's  troubles,  and  then 
about  Mrs.  Frost,  his  smile  faded  into  a  frown.  "It's 
silly,  ignorant  women  like  Mrs.  Frost,"  said  he,  "that 
keep  up  the  trade  in  impure  food,  instead  of  joining,  as 
they  ought,  in  the  city's  fight  for  clean,  wholesome  food." 

"I'll  tell  you,  Dr.  Hardcastle,"  I  cried,  "I'll  invite 
several  of  the  neighbors  to  my  house,  tomorrow,  and  you 
shall  tell  us  how  to  help  in  the  city's  pure  food  battle." 

Dr.  Hardcastle  agreed  and  next  day,  half  a  dozen 
neighbors  were  gathered  in  my  living  room.  To  my  dis- 
appointment, Mrs.  Frost  was  not  there.  "I'd  love  to 
come,"  she  had  said,  in  answer  to  my  invitation,  "but  I 
simply  haven't  time.  It's  Dorothy's  fourteenth  birth- 
day, and  it  will  take  me  all  the  afternoon  to  make  the 
cake  and  salad." 

When  I  repeated  this  to  Dr.  Hardcastle,  he  smiled 
grimly.  "Ah,  well,"  he  said,  "She'll  have  to  learn  from 
hard  experience,  I  suppose,  since  she  hasn't  time  to 
learn  in  any  easier  way." 

Neither  Dr.  Hardcastle  nor  I  dreamed  how  soon  Mrs. 
Frost  was  to  have  her  lesson. 

His  audience  being  seated,  Dr.  Hardcastle  began, 
"This  matter  of  pure  food  is  as  old  as  the  Bible.  In 
Leviticus  are  the  pure  food  laws  that  Moses  made  for 
the  children  of  Israel.  In  France,  too,  almost  eight  hun- 


232  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

dred  years  ago,  a  fierce  ruler  made  a  law  that  anyone 
who  sold  impure  butter  should  be  put  in  the  pillory,  'the 
butter  shall  be  crushed  down  over  his  head  and  shall 
remain  there  until  the  sun  shall  have  melted  it. '  As  for 
anyone  who  sold  watered  milk,  the  milk  was  poured 
through  a  funnel  into  the  mouth  of  the  milk  dealer,  'until 
such  time  as  a  doctor  shall  declare  that  the  culprit  cannot 
be  made  to  swallow  any  more  without  danger  of  death.' 
"But,  in  our  country,  the  first  food  laws  were  not 
passed  until  I  was  a  grown  man.  In  my  boyhood,  on  the 
old  farm,  we  grew  our  own  vegetables,  churned  our  own 
butter,  raised  our  cattle  for  beef,  and  hogs  for  pork  and 
even  grew  the  wheat  for  our  own  flour.  Many  a  time,  I 
rode  the  old,  white  horse  to  the  flour  mill,  with  a  bag  of 
wheat  slung  on  each  side  of  his  back.  The  miller  ground 
it  into  flour  and  Mother  baked  the  bread  in  the  great 
brick  oven. 

"Nowadays,  all  that  is  changed.  For  my  breakfast 
this  morning,  I  had  bacon  and  eggs,  buttered  toast,  coffee 
and  marmalade.  The  bacon  was  packed  in  one  of  the 
great  meat  packing  places  in  Chicago,  a  thousand  miles 
away.  The  eggs  came  from  western  New  York.  The 
butter  was  sent  in  a  refrigerator  car  from  Delaware. 
The  flour  for  the  toast  was  milled  in  Minnesota.  The 
coffee  had  come  by  rail  and  steamer,  from  Java,  As 
for  the  marmalade,  it  had  traveled  all  the  way  from 
Scotland,  and  the  oranges  from  which  it  was  made  had 
ripened  in  a  sunny  garden  in  Spain. 

"Now,  when  I  was  a  boy,  we  knew  that  the  food  we 
raised  ourselves  was  pure.  As  for  my  mother's  kitchen, 
'you  could  eat  off  the  floor,'  as  they  say.  But  how  do 


PURE  FOOD  233 

I  know  whether  the  hog  that  .furnished  my  bacon,  was 
healthy?  Did  the  baker  that  made  my  bread  have  any 
disease?  Was  it  sold  in  a  clean  store?  Was  my  mar- 
malade pure,  or  was  it  made  of  half  decayed  oranges, 
colored  up  with  yellow  dye! 

"It's  very  hard  to  be  certain  about  all  this,  so  for 
about  fifty  years  past,  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  and  more  lately,  of  the  states  and  cities,  has  pro- 
tected us  by  pure  food  laws. 

' '  The  food  law,  to  express  it  in  a  few* words,  says  that 

(1)  Food  must  not  be  mixed  with  something  else  that 
is  not  so  good.     For  instance,  milk  must  not  be  watered. 
Chicory  must  not  be  put  in  coffee,  nor  cottonseed  oil  in 
olive  oil. 

(2)  Food  must  not  be  made  of  decayed  or  diseased 
animals  or  plants — as  jelly  made  from  decayed  apples, 
or  sausage  of  tainted  meat. 

(3)  Food  must  not  have  anything  put  into  it  to  make 
it  look  better,  or  more  expensive  than  it  is,  nor  must 
anything  hurtful  be  added.     That  is,  it  is  against  the  law 
to  putyellowdye  in  milk  to  make  it  look  rich  and  creamy,  or 
to  put  copper  salts  in  canned  peas  or  beans  to  make  them 
green,  for  the  copper  is  very  bad  for  the  stomach." 

"But,"  timidly  interrupted  Mrs.  Lucas,  "I'm  pretty 
certain  that  I've  bought  jam  and  catsup  that  were  dyed." 

' '  Probably  you  have, ' '  agreed  Dr.  Hardcastle.  ' '  You 
see,  there  are  seven  dyes  made  from  coal-tar — ' aniline' 
dyes,  they  are  called — which  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment thinks  harmless  enough  to  allow  their  use.  But 
the  trouble  is  that  even  a  harmless  dye  may  be  used  to 
make  poor  jam,  or  catsup,  or  canned  goods  look  pretty 
and  sell  for  a  higher  price," 


234  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

"But,"  protested  another  lady,  "how  can  we  tell 
what  is  in  the  canned  goods  that  we  buy  ? ' ' 

"There  are  three  ways,"  replied  Dr.  Hardcastle. 
' '  The  first  is,  before  you  buy,  to  look  at  the  label.  Every 
label  should  have  four  things  printed  on  it: — (1)  The 
name  of  the  article,  (2)  What  it  is  made  of,  (3)  The 
manufacturer's  name,  (4)  Where  it  was  made.  Now 
before  you  buy  a  jar,  tin,  bottle  or  package  of  food,  look 
carefully  at  the  label.  Perhaps,  in  fine  print,  you  will 
see  tha,t,  beside  raspberries  and  sugar,  the  jam  contains 
glucose,  or  that  the  catsup  has  benzoate  of  soda  in  it. 
The  Government  requires  every  maker  of  any  sort  of 
food  done  up  in  a  package,  or  can,  to  label  it,  so  that 
everyone  can  tell  just  what  he  is  getting,  and  not  buy  a 
4 pig  in  a  poke,'  as  they  say." 

"But  suppose  the  maker  was  dishonest,  and  the  label 
doesn't  tell  the  truth,"  put  in  my  neighbor,  Mrs.  Weston. 
"I  brought  along  a  jar  of  jam  that  my  cook  bought  yes- 
terday. You  see  the  label  doesn't  say  a  word  about  any 
dye,  but  I  don't  believe  that  bright  red  is  natural." 

"Neither  do  I,"  said  Dr.  Hardcastle,  "but  we'll  soon 
see,  if  I  may  have  a  sauce-pan  with  a  little  water  and  a 
bit  of  white  worsted." 

I  brought  the  articles  and  while  we  all  watched,  Dr. 
Hardcastle  mixed  the  jam  in  the  pan  with  an  equal  a- 
mount  of  water,  put  in  the  piece  of  worsted  and  then 
held  it  over  the  gas  jet.  He  let  it  boil  half  an  hour  while 
he  talked,  then  he  fished  out  the  worsted.  It  was  bright 
pink  and  though  we  did  our  best  to  wash  out  the  dye,  it 
wouldn't  budge. 

"You  see,"  said  Dr.  Hardcastle,  "Mrs  Weston  was 


PURE  FOOD  235 

right — the  jam  was  dyed.  Now  the  label  says  that  this 
jam  was  made  right  here  in  New  York.  I'll  take  the  rest 
of  the  jar,  if  you  are  willing,  Mrs.  Weston,  around  to  the 
City  Health  Department.  Their  chemist  will  examine 
and  test  it,  and  when  he  discovers  the  dye,  an  inspector 
will  call  on  the  maker  of  the  jam  and  teach  him  a  lesson." 

"Is  there  any  way  of  telling  whether  butter  is  real 
butter,  and  not  margarine ! ' '  asked  another  lady  anxiously. 

"Yes,  a  very  easy  way.  Hold  a  tiny  bit  of  it  over 
the  gas  in  a  spoon.  Eeal  butter  will  boil  up  quietly, 
with  a  lot  of  tiny  bubbles.  Margarine  will  crackle  and 
sputter.  But,"  Dr.  Hardcastle  continued,  "if  you  re- 
member always  to  read  the  label,  if  you  pay  a  fair  price, 
and  if  you  buy  only  the  brands  of  food  that  you  know  by 
experience  are  good,  you  won't  often  have  to  test  your 
food,  or  ask  the  Board  of  Health  to  test  it  for  you.  And 
now  I  think  I  Ve  kept  you  long  enough  for  today." 

"But  Doctor,"  said  Mrs.  Brown,  "I  want  to  know — " 

"Oh,  Doctor  Hardcastle,"  broke  in  another  lady, 
"please  tell  me " 

"No,  no,  ladies,"  laughed  the  doctor,  "I'll  talk  to 
you  again  two  weeks  from  today,  if  you  wish,  but  not  now. 
For  today,  I  want  you  just  to  remember  this.  The  Gov- 
ernment wants  to  help  you  to  get  sound,  wholesome  food. 
Help  the  Government,  your  neighbors  and  yourselves 
by  looking  not  at  the  pretty  color,  or  the  attractive  box, 
but  at  the  food  itself.  If  it  is  raw  food — meat,  fish, 
fruit  or  vegetables,  be  sure  that  it  looks  and  smells  fresh 
and  good.  If  it  is  cooked  food — like  jam,  pickles,  candy, 
and  so  on — be  sure  that  it  is  just  a  natural  color,  not 
a  brilliant,  dyed  one.  Then  study  the  label  and  see  just 


236  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

what  you  are  getting.  And  if,  after  all,  you  find  you've 
been  cheated,  send  a  sample  to  the  Board  of  Health  and 
they  will  help  you  out." 

PUEE    FOOD 

Give  some  reasons  why  you  shouldn't  judge  the  quality  of  preserved 
food  by  its  color  alone. 

How  are  people  protected  from  poor  food  when  buying  preserved  articles  ? 
Can  you  describe  some  of  the  ancient  laws  against  selling  unfit  food  ?  Why 
do  city  people  of  today  need  "Pure  Food  Laws,"  where  country  people, 
and  our  grandfathers,  did  not? 

What  does  the  Pure  Food  Law  say  about  foods  manufactured  and  offered 
for  sale?  Read  the  labels  on  as  many  as  possible  of  the  jars,  bottles,  boxes, 
cans  of  food  in  your  home.  What  do  you  find  on  the  labels  that  agrees  with 
the  law?  Do  you  find  Doctor  Hardcastle's  four  points? 

Try  the  experiment  Doctor  Hardcastle  describes,  first  with  some  very 
cheap  bought  jam  or  candy,  then  with  some  home-made  jam  or  candy. 

Try  Doctor   Hardcastle's  butter  "experiment." 

Tell  your   classmates  what  results  you  had. 

What  should  we,  as  good  neighbors,  do  to  protect  our  communities 
against  impure  food? 


CHAPTEE  VII 

HOW  FOOD  IS  KEPT  OE  SPOILED 

Two  weeks  later,  at  least  a  dozen  ladies  met  to  hear 
Dr.  Hardcastle,  but  for  some  time  he  did  not  come. 
When,  at  last,  he  entered,  he  looked  very  grave. 

"I  must  apologize  for  keeping  you  ladies  waiting," 
he  began,  "but  I  was  called  to  see  Mrs.  Frost's  little 
girl.  She  is  ill  with  typhoid  fever." 

"Dorothy  Frost!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Weston,  "Why, 
my  little  Euth  went  to  her  birthday  party  only  two  weeks 
ago.  How  did  she  get  it,  Doctor!" 

"Why,  it's  an  odd  thing,"  said  Doctor  Hardcastle, 
"and  at  first,  I  was  puzzled  about  it.  You  know  typhoid 
germs  are  almost  always  carried  in  one  of  four  ways— 
either  in  water,  milk,  food,  or  on  the  feet  and  bodies  of 
flies.  Now,  Dorothy  has  been  drinking  the  same  water 
and  milk  that  all  the  other  children  around  here  drink, 
and  there  are  practically  no  flies,  at  this  time  of  year. 
As  to  food,  I  couldn't  at  first  find  that  she  had  eaten 
anything  different  from  the  rest  of  the  family.  At  last, 
I  discovered  that  the  night  of  her  party,  there  were 
stewed  oysters." 

"Goodness!"  exclaimed  Mrs  Weston,  turning  pale. 
"Why,  Euth  ate  some  of  those  oysters." 

"Don't  worry,  Mrs.  Weston,"  said  the  doctor.  "Ee- 
member  that  boiling  will  kill  the  liveliest  germ.  It 
wasn't  the  cooked  oysters  that  hurt  Dorothy.  In  the 
afternoon,  before  the  party,  Dorothy  went  into  the 

237 


238  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

kitchen  where  Mrs.  Frost  was  mixing  the  birthday  cake. 
She  was  rather  hungry  and  going  to  the  refrigerator, 
saw  the  raw  oysters.  Mrs.  Frost  tells  me  that  Dorothy 
is  very  fond  of  them,  and  before  she  knew  what  her 
daughter  was  doing,  Dorothy  had  eaten  half  a  dozen  of 
the  raw  oysters. 

"I  at  once  started  to  trace  the  history  of  the  oysters. 


It  seems  that  Mrs.  Frost  bought  them  from  0  'Brien,  and 
he  had  gotten  them  from  a  wholesaler,  who  had  fattened 
them  in  a  fresh  water  inlet  on  Long  Island.  You  know, 
after  the  oysters  are  taken  from  the  ocean,  they  are  put 
into  fresh  water  to  ' plump'  them  and  make  them  look  and 
sell  better.  I  visited  other  customers  of  O'Brien's  who 
had  bought  some  of  the  same  lot  of  oysters,  and  found 
that  two  of  them  had  eaten  the  oysters  raw  and  had  come 
down  with  typhoid. 

"Next,  I  visited  the  wholesaler  and  examined  the 


HOW  FOOD  IS  KEPT  OR  SPOILED  239 

inlet  where  the  oysters  had  lain.  I  found  that  farther 
up  the  inlet,  lived  a  fisherman's  family.  The  fisherman's 
wife  had  had  typhoid  and  their  sewer  emptied  into  the 
inlet.  The  seeds  of  typhoid  had  been  carried  right  past 
the  place  where  the  oysters  lay  and  so  the  oysters  had 
carried  the  germs  to  Dorothy." 

i '  I  know  a  man  who  got  typhoid  from  eating  celery, ' ' 
said  my  neighbor,  Mrs.  Porter. 

"Yes,"  nodded  Dr.  Hardcastle,  "Any  raw  food  may 
carry  the  germs  of  disease,  or  the  eggs  of  insects,  and 
ought  to  be  very  carefully  washed  before  it  is  eaten.  In- 
stead, most  children  and  many  grown  people  will  buy  an 
apple  from  a  fruit  stand  and  put  it,  covered  with  the 
street  dust  and  the  grime  from  the  appleman's  hands, 
into  their  mouths." 

"Yesterday,"  put  in  Mrs.  Weston,  "I  saw  such  a  nice 
fruit-stand.  It  was  all  covered  with  glass  and  looked 
so  clean  and  attractive — and  so  did  the  man  who  kept  it. ' ' 

"That  sort  of  stand,"  said  the  doctor,  "ought  to  be 
the  only  kind  allowed  by  law.  The  other  day,  I  went 
down  to  a  filthy  basement  on  Mulberry  Street,  to  see  a 
little  chap  who  has  tuberculosis.  While  I  was  there,  in 
came  his  father  with  an  open  push-cart,  full  of  dusty,  half- 
decayed  fruit.  The  poor  fellow  had  had  bad  luck  and 
was  bringing  almost  his  whole  stock  home  unsold.  It 
seems  he  was  in  the  habit  of  keeping  his  fruit  right  there 
in  the  room  where  four  people  ate  and  slept.  Often  the 
fruit  was  piled  up  in  a  dark  corner  under  the  bed.  Just 
fancy  the  risk  you  would  run  in  eating  that  fruit  with- 
out first  scrubbing  it. 

"You  remember  that  the  other  day,  I  told  you  some- 


240  A  CITY  OP  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

thing  about  pure  food  laws  and  how  to  avoid  food  that 
was  dyed  or  mixed  with  cheap  stuff ;  but,  really,  the  chief 
danger  from  impure  food  is  the  germs  of  decay  and 
disease  that  often  grow  in  it.  You  know  that  some  of 
the  tiny  plants  which  we  call  germs,  or  bacteria,  make 
food  decay,  while  others,  like  the  typhoid  germ,  cause 
disease.  Now,  you  can't  shoot  or  stab  a  germ.  There 
are  just  three  ways  of  attacking  him — boiling,  freezing 
and  poisoning. 

"A  few  minutes  boiling  will  end  the  career  of  the 
strongest  germ.  That  is  why  none  of  the  children  at 
Dorothy's  party  caught  typhoid  from  the  stewed  oysters. 
You  all  know  that  cooked  meat  or  fruit  or  vegetables 
will  keep  a  good  deal  longer  than  raw.  That  is  simply 
because  the  germs  of  decay  have  all  been  boiled  to  death. 
And  when  you  can  fruit  or  vegetables,  you  boil  all  the 
germs  and  then  seal  the  jars  up,  so  that  no  air  can  bring 
in  fresh  germs." 

"I  remember  my  grandmother's  saying,"  put  in  Mrs. 
Lucas,  "  that  when  she  was  a  little  girl,  they  didn't  know 
how  to  can  fruit  and  vegetables." 

"No,"  said  Dr.  Hardcastle,  "Canning  is  quite  a  mo- 
dern invention.  The  great  Napoleon  gave  a  prize  of 
$2400  to  a  man  named  Appert,  who  first  canned  fruit  by 
boiling  and  sealing  it  in  jars.  But  even  sixty  years  ago, 
when  I  was  a  youngster,  there  was  very  little  canning 
done.  And  now,  just  think  what  would  become  of  our 
Arctic  explorers,  our  army  and  navy,  or  even  of  our- 
selves in  winter,  if  there  were  no  canned  fruit  or  vege- 
tables, no  tinned  sardines  and  salmon." 

"Doctor,"  broke  in  one  of  the  ladies,  "Sometimes 


HOW  POOD  IS  KEPT  OR  SPOILED  241 

Pve  bought  a  can  that  was  spoiled.  Is  there  any  way  of 
telling  whether  a  can  is  all  right? " 

"There's  no  absolutely  certain  way  until  you  open 
the  can,"  replied  the  doctor,  "but  if  the  top  of  a  can 
instead  of  hollowing  in  a  trifle,  bulges  out,  you  may  be 
pretty  sure  that  it  is  spoiled.  .You  see,  when  a  can  is 
not  air-tight,  germs  creep  in  and  as  they  work,  they 
form  gas  and  this  swells  out  the  top  of  the  can.  And 
another  thing  that  I  want  to  warn  you  against  is  opening 
a  tin  can  and  then  letting  the  food  stand  in  it.  Empty 
the  food  at  once  into  a  glass  or  china  dish,  as  the  tin, 
qnce  opened  to  the  air,  may  poison  the  food." 

"Fresh  food  is  so  much  nicer  than  canned,  though," 
said  Mrs.  Weston.  "It  seems  a  shame  to  cook  it." 

"So  it  does,"  agreed  the  doctor.  "Boiling  kills  the 
germs,  but  often  it  spoils  the  fine  flavor  of  the  food,  too. 
And  that  is  where  the  freezing  method  conies  in. 
Freezing  doesn't  usually  kill  germs,  but  it  does  paralyze 
them.  You  know  that  during  the  winter  cold,  bears, 
hedgehogs,  moles  and  other  animals  go  to  sleep.  Cold 
affects  germs  in  much  the  same  way ;  they  cannot  grow  or 
spread,  they  just  sleep.  That  is  why  food  'keeps'  in  the 
refrigerator,  when  it  spoils  on  the  hot,  kitchen  table." 

"But  Doctor,"  asked  Mrs.  Weston,  "Is  food  that  has 
been  in  cold  storage  fit  to  eat!" 

"Several  years  ago,"  the  doctor  replied,  "people 
had  an  idea  that  cold  storage  was  bad  for  food  and  so  it 
is,  if  almost  spoiled  food  is  put  in  cold  storage  to  save 
it  or  if  the  storage  place  is  not  clean,  dry  and  well  venti- 
lated. But  if  fresh,  clean  food  is  properly  stored,  it 
can  be  kept  for  months  and  be  just  as  valuable  for  food 

16 


242 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


though  after  a  long  time,  it  does  lose  something  of  its 
flavor.     In  New  York  State,  the  law  does  not  allow  food 


Cold  Storage  Warehouse. 


to  be  kept  in  cold  storage  more  than  ten  months,  and  in 
Pennsylvania,  it  is  limited  to  nine  months. 

"When  I  was  living  in  Cleveland,"  said  Mrs.  Porter, 


HOW  FOOD  IS  KEPT  OR  SPOILED  243 

"  We  used  to  store  eggs  and  fruit  and  other  things  in  the 
city  refrigerator.  I  would  buy  a  crate  of  eggs,  thirty 
dozen,  when  they  were  cheap  in  April,  and  for  forty 
cents,  I  could  store  them  in  the  cold  storage  room  at  the 
city  market  until  the  next  January,  when  eggs  were  ever 
so  much  higher. " 

"Yes,"  said  Dr.  Hardcastle,  "cold  storage  is  a  won- 
derful blessing.  Meat  and  fruit,  butter  and  eggs  and 
vegetables,  can  be  put  in  storage  when  they  are  plentiful 
and  used  when  they  are  scarce.  And  just  think  of  the 
great  refrigerator  cars  that  bring  us  fresh  fruit  from 
Florida  and  fresh  salmon  from  the  Pacific  Ocean.  There 
are  over  one  hundred  thousand  refrigerator  cars  in  the 
United  States." 

"I'm  glad  to  know  that  cold  storage  food  isn't  danger- 
ous," said  Mrs.  Weston. 

"No,"  replied  the  doctor,  "but  remember  one  thing. 
When  food  comes  out  of  cold  storage  it  is  likely  to  spoil 
rather  quickly,  so  it  should  be  used  at  once. 

"And  now  to  come  to  the  third  way  of  attacking  the 
germ — poisoning  him.  There  are  some  things  that  are 
bad  for  germs  that  don't  especially  hurt  people — for 
instance,  sugar,  salt,  vinegar,  spices  and  smoke.  You 
know  that  fruit  cooked  with  sugar  into  a  'jam'  will  keep 
a  long  time — the  germs  of  decay  can't  live  and  flourish 
in  it,  for  the  sugar  doesn't  agree  with  them.  The  same 
thing  happens  to  meat  that  is  salted  or  pickled  or  smoked. 
Food  preserved  in  these  ways  is  less  wholesome  than  if 
cooked  or  kept  cold,  but  sometimes  one  can't  cook  or 
freeze  food.  On  my  grandmother's  table  there  were 
always  glass  dishes  full  of  preserves  and  pickles.  In  her 


244  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

cellar,  stood  barrels  of  brine  with  corned  beef  in  them,  and 
grandfather  smoked  pounds  and  pounds  of  ham  and  beef 
and  bacon  in  his  own  smoke-house. ' ' 

"Did  you  say  that  smoked  and  corned  meat  were 
unwholesome,  Doctor!"  asked  Mrs.  Lane. 

"Oh,  if  you  have  an  energetic,  obliging  stomach,  it 
won't  object  to  a  little  of  them,"  smiled  the  doctor,  "but 
don't  eat  them  too  often.  However,  our  grandmothers' 
way  of  poisoning  the  germs  and  so  preserving  food  was 
far,  far  better  than  the  modern  way."  The  doctor  held 
up  a  bottle  of  catsup  on  whose  label  were  the  words,  'Ben- 
zoate of  Soda,'  "Our  foolish  modern  way,"  he  contin- 
ued, "is  to  poison  the  germs  with  things  that  also  poison 
us.  Now  you  see  this  catsup,  to  kill  the  germs  of  decay, 
has  been  treated  with  benzoate  of  soda.  Of  course,  only 
a  tiny  bit  has  been  added — not  enough  perhaps  to  do  you 
any  serious  damage.  But  suppose  all  the  bottled  or 
canned  food  you  ate  contained  a  little  benzoate  of  soda, 
or  borax,  or  other  chemical,  don't  you  see  that  your  sys- 
tem would  be  kept  at  work  all  the  time  getting  rid  of 
these  poisons!" 

"But  Doctor,"  asked  Mrs.  Weston,  "since  the  catsup 
is  boiled,  anyhow,  why  do  they  need  to  put  in  these 
preservatives  1 ' ' 

"There  would  be  no  need  whatever,"  replied  the 
doctor,  "if  they  used  only  clean,  sound  fruit,  and  cooked, 
bottled  and  sealed  it  carefully.  But  you  see,  some  dis- 
honest men  use  half  rotten  fruit  and  then,  to  cover  up  the 
bad  taste  and  smell,  add  soda,  borax  or  other  poison. 
This  does  kill  the  germs  that  make  the  catsup  taste  and 
smell  disagreeable,  but  it  doesn't  always  kill  the  germs 


HOW  FOOD  IS  KEPT  OR  SPOILED 


245 


that  decay  the  fruit  and  that  are  likely  to  make  you  ill 
if  you  eat  them." 

"Do  you  mean,  Doctor,  that  jam  or  catsup  can  smell 
and  taste  all  right  and  still  be  made  of  rotten  fruit  or 
tomatoes? "  gasped  Mrs.  Porter. 

"Just  what  I  mean,"  said  the  doctor,  "so  let  me 
warn  you  again  to  study  labels,  to  beware  of  extremely 
cheap  goods,  and  to  buy  of 
an  honest  grocer." 

"It's  very  hard  on  the 
poor  people, ' '  remarked  Mrs. 
Weston,  thoughtfully.  "Of 
course  they  want  to  get  food 
as  cheaply  as  they  can." 

"Yes,"  nodded  Dr. 
Hardcastle,  "and  that  is  one 
reason  why  you  ladies  should 
trade  with  honest  grocers 
and  help  the  Government  in  its  fight  for  pure  food  for 
everyone,  rich  and  poor.  The  United  States  Government 
has  inspectors  to  examine  all  the  food  that  comes  into  this 
country  from  abroad,  or  that  is  sent  from  one  state  to 
another.  You  must  often  have  seen  the  Government 
stamp  on  meat,  showing  that  it  has  been  examined 
and  passed." 

"What  becomes  of  the  meat  that  isn't  passed?" 
someone  asked. 

"It  is  destroyed.  Sometimes  the  inspector  pours 
kerosene  oil  on  it,  to  make  sure  that  the  dealer  can't  sell 
it.  You  know  that  cows  often  have  tuberculosis  and 
pigs  sometimes  have  a  tiny  worm  in  their  flesh  which 
makes  pork  very  dangerous  indeed.  That  is  why  pork 


The  United  States  Stamp  for  Pure  Food. 


246 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


should  always  be  very  thoroughly  cooked.  Beside  the 
United  States  inspectors,  each  state  and  most  cities  have 
a  force  of  inspectors  from  the  Board  of  Health  who  go 
to  all  places  where  food  is  made,  the  candy  factories, 
pickling  works,  and  bakeries — all  the  places  where  food 


Inspecting  and  Stamping  Pork. 

is  handled  and  stored — all  the  wharves  and  depots  and 
stores  and  push-carts  and  hotels  and  restaurants,  to  see 
that  they  are  clean,  that  the  food  is  wholesome,  and  that 
it  is  not  handled  by  anyone  who  is  diseased. ' ' 

"Mercy!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Lane.  "What  a  piece 
of  work!" 

"Yes,  indeed,"  agreed  Dr.  Hardcastle.  "And  there 
aren't  nearly  enough  inspectors  to  do  it  thoroughly,  so 


HOW  FOOD  IS  KEPT  OR  SPOILED  247 

we  all  ought  to  help  by  demanding  clean,  pure  food,  and 
going  only  to  the  stores  that  sell  it.  It  means  some 
trouble,  but  it's  worth  it  if  only  the  city  can  be  sure  of 
having  clean,  wholesome  food.  You  know  that  Napoleon 
said  that '  An  army  travels  on  its  stomach. '  Well,  that 's 
what  we  all  do.  If  a  city  doesn't  have  clean,  honest 


Diseased  Pork  (Magnified). 

food,  it  doesn't  get  very  far  on  the  road  to  health 
and  happiness." 

"Suppose,"  said  Mrs.  Weston,  as  the  doctor  ended, 
"that  we  form  a  sort  of  Pure  Food  Club.  We  might 
visit  some  of  the  big  canneries  and  bakeries  and  candy 
factories.  We  could  find  out  which  brands  of  canned 
goods  are  most  reliable  and  then  always  ask  for 
those  brands." 

"Yes,"  put  in  Mrs.  Porter,  "If  we  all  join  together 
and  demand  pure  food,  the  shop-keepers  will  have  to 


248  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

keep  it,  and  we  can  all  encourage  the  clean,  honest  men, 
like  Mr.  Smith,  by  buying  from  them.  I'm  going  to 
telephone  to  Mrs.  Frost  and  see  whether  she  won't 
join  us." 

A  great  clatter  of  tongues  arose  while  Mrs.  Porter 
telephoned.  ' '  What  did  she  say  1 ' '  everyone  asked  a  few 
minutes  later. 

"She  said,"  replied  Mrs.  Porter,  half  laughing  and 
half  vexed,  "that  she  is  sorry,  but  Dorothy  and  Robert 
are  so  delicate  that  they  keep  her  busy  every  moment, 
and  she  has  no  time  to  think  about  other  things." 

HOW  FOOD  IS  KEPT  OB  SPOILED 

In  the  last  chapter  we  talked  about  putting  things  into  foods  to  make 
them  seem  better  than  they  are.  In  this  chapter,  we  have  thought  about 
a  very  different  kind  of  danger.  For  example: — How  can  wrongly  handled 
food  carry  disease — typhoid  for  example,  or  tuberculosis  ?  Does  the  govern- 
ment protect  us  in  any  way  from  this  danger? 

Why  will  cooked  food  keep  longer  than  raw  food?  How  must  we  use 
canned  foods,  to  have  them,  safe? 

Find  out  by  using  a  thermometer,  the  temperature  of  your  refrigerator 
in  several  different  corners.  Where  should  you  keep  the  milk  ?  Why  ? 

Why  will  foods  keep  in  the  refrigerator  when  they  would  spoil  outside? 
Make  a  list  of  all  the  benefits  to  us  of  cold  storage.  What  precautions 
should  be  taken  in  the  sale  and  use  of  cold-storage  foods  ? 

What  is  a  third  way  of  killing  germs,  or  paralyzing  them,  without  harm 
to  ourselves?  How  do  smoked  or  corned  meats  compare  in  healthfulness 
with  fresh  meats? 

What  other  reasons  are  there  for  using  colors,  spices  and  preservatives 
in  foods  besides  to  keep  them  from  spoiling  ?  How  can  we  protect  ourselves 
from  such  foods? 

Explain  the  work  of  the  Federal,  the  State  and  city  inspectors  of  food 
supplies.  Find  out  how  many  such  officials  protect  your  own  food  supply, 
and  what  they  do. 

Why  do  you  not  form  a  "Pure  Food  Club"  in  your  school  like  the  one 
described  in  this  chapter?  Such  a  club  will  improve  food  conditions  in 
every  neighborhood, 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  MILK  QUESTION 

You  have  all  sung  the  fine  old  hymn,  * '  Jerusalem,  the 
Golden. ' '  I  wonder  whether  you  have  puzzled  as  I  used 
to  do  over  the  line,  "with  milk  and  honey  blest."  I  used 
to  think  that  if  one  were  counting  up  blessings,  honey 
might  perhaps  be  included,  for  we  didn't  have  it  very 
often  and  it  was  delicious  spread  on  bread  and  butter, 
but  as  for  milk !  Why,  milk  was  just  a  matter  of  course 
—something  that  the  milkman  left  at  the  basement  door, 
something  that  I  must  drink  a  glass  of  before  I  could 
have  any  dessert.  Where  the  milkman  got  it,  or  why  it 
was  more  important  than  dessert,  I  never  stopped  to  think. 

But  one  day  there  came  a  terrible  snowstorm.  Peo- 
ple still  speak  of  it  as  the  "blizzard  of  1888."  The 
snow  came  down  in  blinding  masses,  the  wind  whirled  it 
into  dazzling  mountains.  People  could  hardly  plough 
their  way  through  the  streets  and  the  railroads  were  all 
tied  up.  For  several  days,  we  could  not  get  any  fresh 
milk.  There  was  condensed  milk,  but  none  to  drink,  and 
the  people  who  had  babies  were  dreadfully  worried,  lest 
they  should  fall  ill.  There  was  great  rejoicing,  I  can  tell 
you,  when  the  snow  was  cleared  away  enough  to  let  the 
milk  trains  'through.  From  that  time,  I  began  to  realize 
that  milk  is  really  more  of  a  blessing  than  honey. 

To  put  it  briefly,  milk  is  the  most  important  of  all 
foods,  because  (1)  Babies  cannot  live  without  it  and  older 
children  need  it  in  order  to  keep  well  and  strong.  (2)  It 

249 


250  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

contains  all  the  materials  that  the  body  needs,  protein 
to  build  tissue  and  muscle,  lime  to  make  bones  and  teeth, 
vitamines  to  keep  us  healthy,  and  fat  and  sugar  to  give  the 
body  warmth  and  energy.  (3)  It  is  easily  digested.  (4) 
Compared  with  other  good  foods,  it  is  cheap.  A  half- 
pint  glass  of  milk  will  give  as  much  real  food,  though  of  a 

different  kind,  as  a  large  helping 
of  roast  beef,  or  as  two  large 
eggs.  It  is  no  wonder  that  about 
one  sixth  of  the  average  Amer- 
ican family's  food  is  milk,  or 
something  made  from  milk,  like 
butter  and  cheese. 

"But,"  perhaps  you  will  say, 
"since  milk  is  such  a  wonderful 
food,  why  is  this  chapter  headed 
'The  Milk  Question?'  What 
question  can  there  be  about  it 
except  '  How  much  does  it 
cost?'  "  The  answer  is  that  the 
most  valuable  things,  if  misused, 
often  become  the  most  dangerous 
— and  this  is  especially  true  of 
milk.  Clean,  fresh,  wholesome  milk  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  things  a  city  can  have.  A  dirty,  infected  milk 
supply  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous. 

Until  about  seventy-five  years  ago,  there  was  no  re- 
gular city  milk  business.  Cows  were  often  kept  in  the 
city,  or  farmers  drove  a  few  miles  into  town  bringing  their 
milk  from  the  farm.  This  meant  that  milk  was  drunk 


THE  MILK  QUESTION  251 

quite  fresh — only  about  twenty-four  hours  old,  perhaps. 
It  also  meant  that  it  was  not  much  handled.  The  farmer 
would  pour  the  evening  milk  into  big  tin  cans,  let  it  cool 
during  the  night,  and  long  before  light,  would  be  carting 
it  into  the  city  himself.  Fresh  milk  like  this  is  likely 
to  be  pretty  wholesome. 

But  as  the  cities  grew,  it  became  impossible  to  keep 
cows  there  and  the  farms  were  pushed  further  away 
from  the  center  of  town,  so  that  the  farmer  could  no 
longer  deliver  his  milk  with  his  own  horse  and  wagon. 
By  this  time,  too,  railroads  were  being  built.  So  the 
farmer  carted  his  milk  only  to  the  railroad  station,  where 
it  was  taken  into  town  and  received  by  a  milk  dealer. 
The  dealer  paid  the  farmer  and  then  resold  the  milk 
to  his  customers. 

At  this  time,  there  were  no  laws  against  watering  and 
skimming  milk  and  many  dishonest  milkmen  cheated  in 
this  way.  They  could  easily  do  it,  for  milk  is  about  eighty- 
seven  per  cent,  water.  Of  the  solid  part,  about  one  quarter 
is  protein,  or  tissue  building  material,  and  about  two- 
thirds  fat  and  sugar,  which  are  good  for  fuel — there  is  also 
a  tiny  bit  of  mineral  matter.  It  is  very  easy  for  a  milk- 
man to  add  some  water  or  to  skim  off  some  of  the  cream, 
without  the  customer's  knowing  it.  Nowadays,  the  milk 
inspectors  from  the  Board  of  Health  test  the  milk  and 
any  milkman  who  sells  watered  or  skimmed  milk  is 
severely  fined  or  has  his  license  to  sell  milk  taken  away. 

For  a  good  many  years,  any  milk  that  had  a 
proper  amount  of  cream  in  it  and  was  not  watered,  could 
be  sold  and  no  one  dreamed  that  milk  could  be  dangerous. 
But  about  thirty  years  ago,  as  doctors  and  scientists 


252 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


learned  more,  and  as  microscopes  and  other  instruments 
were  improved,  it  was  learned  that  "catching"  diseases, 
like  typhoid  fever,  diphtheria,  tuberculosis  and  tonsillitis, 
are  caused  by  the  tiny  plants  which  we  call  germs,  or 
bacteria.  In  talking  about  food,  water  and  ice,  we  have 
already  seen  how  these  germs  can  be  carried  from  a  sick 


person  to  well  ones,  either  by  coughing,  sneezing,  or  spit- 
ting, or  in  sewage  which  gets  into  water  or  food. 

You  remember,  too,  that  germs  find  little  food  in 
water  and  so  gradually  die  off,  but  in  milk,  it  is  quite 
different.  If  a  milker  who  has  tonsillitis  coughs  and  a 
germ  flies  into  the  milk  pail,  the  germ  is  "in  clover." 
What  he  loves  best  is  a  warm,  damp,  dark  place,  with 
plenty  of  food,  and  that  is  just  what  the  milk  gives  him. 
Perhaps  the  milk  is  strained,  but  Mr.  Germ  slips  merrily 


THE  MILK  QUESTION  253 

through  the  strainer  into  the  big  milk  can.  If  the  careless 
farmer  does  not  ice  his  milk,  the  germs  straightway  begin 
to  multiply  at  a  terrific  rate.  Perhaps,  at  the  railroad 
station,  the  can  stands  unprotected  from  the  sun  or  from 
inquisitive  fingers,  or  perhaps  in  the  milk  car  there  is 
not  enough  ice.  If  so,  the  germs  multiply  still  more. 
Inside  the  can,  it  is  warm  and  dark  and  there  is  both 

A  Chain  is  no  Stronger  than  its  weakest  Link 

^•^ 

'Wash  or  wipe1 
udders 


CAREFUL 
PRODUCTION 

INSURES 
SATISFIED  CUSTOMERS 

AND  BETTER 
MARKET  CONDITIONS 


INTERSTATE  MILK  PRODUCERS  ASSOCIATION,  INC 


V; 

'W/>       A  «^— *«X .M.^.~-,-- 

'lowest  possible 
temperature 


water  and  food  in  the  milk.  What  more  could  any  germ 
want!  No  wonder  that  by  the  time  he  gets  to  your  door, 
Mr.  Germ  has  a  family  of  many  millions. 

Now,  I  suppose  some  of  you  are  thinking,  "Well,  the 
only  safe  thing  is  not  to  drink  milk  at  all."  But  that 
would  be  a  very  great  mistake.  As  I  said,  milk  is  the 
best  food  there  is,  especially  for  children.  As  for  the 
bacteria  in  milk,  most  of  them  are  quite  harmless.  Some 


254  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

of  them  turn  the  milk  sour,  and  of  course,  sour  milk  is 
bad  for  babies,  but  for  grown  people,  it  is  not  unwhole- 
some and  it  is  excellent  for  cooking  and  for  making 
cheese  and  butter. 

There  are  other  bacteria  that,  in  time,  will  decay, 
just  as  raw  meat  does  if  it  is  kept  too  long.  These,  of 
course,  are  dangerous.  That  is  why  milk,  even  kept  cool 
so  that  it  does  not  sour,  may  be  too  stale  to  be  wholesome. 

The  other  chief  kinds  of  bacteria  found  in  milk  are 
the  germs  of  various  diseases,  especially  typhoid  fever, 
diphtheria,  tuberculosis  and  tonsillitis.  These  germs  are 
very  dangerous — much  more  dangerous  than  any  mere 
dirt.  In  the  first  place,  you  can  see  dirt.  If  there  is 
enough  of  it,  the  milk  will  look  dirty  and  so  warn  you  not 
to  drink  it,  Bits  of  dirt  from  the  manure-pile,  from  the 
milker's  hands,  or  from  the  cow's  flank,  can  to  some  ex- 
tent be  strained  out  of  the  milk,  but  milk  may  be  swarin- 
ing  with  millions  of  germs  and  yet  look  perfectly  white. 

Since,  then,  milk  is  such  very  good  food  and  yet  may 
be  so  dangerous,  let  us  see  what  should  be  done  to  get 
clean,  fresh  milk,  free  from  disease  germs. 

If  you  examine  the  caps  of  a  lot  of  milk  bottles,  you 
will,  in  most  cities,  find  that  they  are  different.  Some 
are  marked  " certified,"  some  "pasteurized,"  and  some 
are  lettered  A,  B,  or  C,  as  in  New  York  City. 

Certified  milk  is  the  most  expensive  and  is  supposed 
to  be  the  best  milk  on  the  market.  In  many  cities  and 
states,  there  are  groups  of  doctors  who  have  gotten  to- 
gether to  see  that  pure  milk  is  provided  for  babies  and 
invalids.  They  have  formed  "Medical  Milk  Commis- 
sions." These  Commissions  inspect  certain  milk  farms 


THE  MILK  QUESTION  255 

to  see  that  the  cows  are  healthy  and  well  fed  and  groomed, 
the  barns,  milk-rooms,  pails,  cans,  bottles,  and  so  on,  all 
perfectly  clean,  the  milkers  clean  and  free  from  disease, 
the  milking  done  in  a  cleanly  manner,  and  the  milk  deliv- 
ered fresh  and  cold. 

Besides  all  this,  the  milk  is  tested.     Scientists  have 


Milk  Room. 


several  ways  of  counting  bacteria,  but  they  are  rather 
hard  to  understand,  so  we  need  not  bother  about  them 
now.  But  if,  in  a  cubic  centimeter  of  milk,  about  one 
quarter  of  a  teaspoonful,  there  are  over  10,000  bacteria, 
the  milk  is  not  good  enough  to  be  certified.  If  there  are 
less  than  10,000,  and  the  dairy  farm  is,  as  I  said,  satis- 


256  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

factory,  the  farmer  is  given  a  certificate  and  is  allowed 
to  label  his  milk  "  certified. " 

Of  course,  it  costs  more  and  takes  more  time  to  be  so 
very  careful  with  the  milk,  so  naturally,  certified  milk 
is  high  priced.  But,  although  about  sixty  of  these  medi- 
cal milk  commissions  have  been  formed  in  this  country, 
certified  milk  forms  less  than  one  one-hundredth  of  the 
whole  milk  supply. 

Now,  as  to  the  A,  B,  and  C  grades  of  milk,  these  are 
inspected  and  graded  by  the  city  Health  Departments. 
In  New  York  City,  Grade  A  milk,  which  is  for  babies  and 
invalids,  must  come  from  cows  that  are  healthy  and  are 
tested  every  year  to  see  that  they  are  free  from  tubercu- 
losis. Also  the  milk  must  not  contain  more  than  60,000 
bacteria  per  cubic  centimeter. 

Such  milk  is  often  bottled  raw — that  is,  without  be- 
ing heated  to  kill  the  bacteria;  but  even  with  the  great- 
est care,  disease  germs  may  get  into  the  cleanest  milk. 
This  has  happened  many  times  because  the  milking  was 
done  or  the  milk  was  handled  by  someone  who  was  not 
ill  enough  to  know  it,  but  who,  nevertheless,  was  har- 
boring disease  germs.  Most  doctors  therefore  think, 
nowadays,  that  the  only  absolutely  safe  way  is  for  all 
milk  to  be  pasteurized,  and  practically  all  the  milk  now 
sold  in  a  number  of  large  cities  is  pasteurized. 

The  simplest  way  to  pasteurize  milk  at  home  is  to 
boil  two  quarts  of  water  in  a  big  kettle  or  pail — a  ten 
pound  lard  pail  is  excellent.  Into  the  pail  of  boiling  water, 
put  the  bottle  of  milk,  which,  of  course,  should  have  been 
kept  on  the  ice.  To  prevent  cracking  the  glass,  warm  it 
a  little  before  putting  it  into  the  boiling  water.  When 


THE  MILK  QUESTION  257 

the  milk  reaches  a  temperature  of  142°,  hold  it  at  this 
temperature  for  half  an  hour,  not  letting  it  fall  below  142° 
or  go  above  145°.     Then  take  out  the  bottle  of  milk  and' 
put  it  on  ice  at  once.     This  will  kill  all  the  dangerous 
germs  and  the  milk  will  keep  longer  than  it  would  raw. 

Grade  B  milk  is  supposed  to  be  fit  for  healthy  grown 
people  to  drink,  but  in  New  York  it  must  be  pasteurized. 
The  dairies  that  it  comes  from  do  not  rank  quite  so  high 
as  the  Grade  A  dairies,  and  while  the  cows  must-  be 
examined  every  year,  to  see  that  they  are  healthy,  there 
is  no  special  test  for  tuberculosis.  Such  milk  must  not 
contain  over  100,000  bacteria  per  cubic  centimeter.  Of 
course,  it  is  less  expensive  than  A  milk. 

Grade  C  milk  should  not  be  drunk  at  all.  It  is  fit  only 
for  cooking.  It  may  contain  three  times  as  many  bac- 
teria as  Grade  B,  a«nd  in  many  cities  its  sale  is  forbidden 
by  law. 

If  you  visit  a  model  dairy  farm,  you  will  find  the  cow- 
barn  light,  airy,  and  scrupulously  clean.  There  is  no 
dusty  hay  or  feed  lying  about,  the  manure  is  carted  away, 
and  there  are  no  prowling  cats  or  dogs,  or  flies,  to  carry 
disease  germs.  The  cows  are  kept  almost  as  clean  as  if 
they  were  fine  ladies.  They  are  carefully  fed  and  brushed 
and  cleaned.  In  some  dairies,  they  actually  clean  the 
cows  with  a  vacuum  cleaner.  The  hind  quarters  of  the 
cows  are  also  kept  clipped,  so  they  can  easily  be  kept 
clean,  and  so  that  no  hairs,  covered  with  germs,  can  drop 
into*  the  milk. 

At  milking  time,  in  a  real,  model  dairy,  the  milkers, 
who  are  examined  by  a  doctor  to  see  that  they  have 
no  disease,  wear  spotless  white,  wash  suits.  With 

17 


258  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

freshly  washed,  hands,  they  come  in  each  with  a 
washable  iron  stool  and  a  clean,  bright,  " hooded" 
milk-pail,  similar  to  those  in  the  picture.  This  is 
to  keep  dirt  and  hairs  from  falling  into  the  milk. 


Ahead  of  each  milker,  goes  a  man  who  wipes  the  cow  off 
with  a  clean,  damp  cloth.  The  milkers  are  never  allowed 
to  wet  their  hands,  as  some  careless  men  do,  before  milk- 
ing, since  this  makes  any  dust  more  likely  to  stick  to  them. 
When  the  milking  is  done,  all  the  milk  is  quickly  cooled, 
so  that  the  germs  shall  not  be  encouraged  to  grow.  The 


THE  MILK  QUESTION  259 

empty  pails  and  cans  are  all  rinsed  in  cold  water,  then 
in  hot  water  and  soda  and  then  scalded  with  steam  or 
boiling  water  and  dried  upside  down  in  the  sun — so  that 
not  a  single  germ  shall  have  a  chance  to  live  in  them. 

On  some  farms,  the  milk  is  bottled  at  once.  On 
others,  the  milk  is  put  into  big,  forty-quart  cans  and  sent 
to  the  dairy  or  creamery,  where  it  is  bottled  and  sent  out 
on  the  milk  routes. 

The  four  great  things  to  remember  about  milk  are 
that  it  should  be  (1)  delivered  as  soon  as  possible,  so 
as  to  be  fresh,  (2)  kept  cool,  so  that  germs  will  have 
little  chance  to  increase,  (3)  kept  clean,  since  dirt  is  often 
dangerous  and  always  disgusting  and  (4)  kept  free  from 
disease  germs. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  government  is  doing  all  it  can 
to  get  clean  milk  for  the  people  by  teaching  the  farmers 
and  dairymen,  inspecting  the  farms  and  testing  and  grad- 
ing the  milk. 

Now,  what  ought  we,  as  good  citizens  and  neighbors, 
to  do  to  help  ?  In  the  first  place,  we  may  as  well  realize 
that  good  things  cost  more  thanpoor — that  a  quart  of  good 
clean  milk,  even  at  a  higher  price,  is  far  better  food  and 
far  safer  than  a  cheap  quart  of  stale,  dirty,  perhaps 
diseased  milk.  Dirty  milk  that  is  sold  "  loose, "  that  is 
not  bottled,  but  dipped  out  of  an  open  can  in  a  dirty 
grocery,  where  all  sorts  of  dirt,  including  flies,  can  get 
to  it,  carried  home,  perhaps,  in  an  open  pail,  may  be 
"cheap,"  but  if  it  makes  the  baby  ill,  it  is  very  expensive. 
Many  cities  forbid  its  sale.  So  we  must  make  up  our 
minds  to  buy  only  good  milk. 


260 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


Secondly,  we  must  do  our  share  toward  protecting 
the  milk  supply.  Haven't  you  often  seen  milk  bottles 
crusted  with  sour  milk  and  full  of  dirt  and  dead  flies? 
Some  people  even  use  milk  bottles  to  hold  paint,  turpen- 
tine, or  kerosene  oil,  and  then  give  them  back  to  the  milk- 
man for  someone  else  to  use.  Even  with  the  most  careful 


Sterilizing  Milk  Bottles. 

inspection  at  the  dairy,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  avoid 
the  results  of  such  carelessness.  If  the  dairy  is  careless, 
and  these  bottles  are  not  well  washed  and  scalded  before 
they  are  refilled  with  milk,  they  are  liable  to  make  some- 
one ill.  It  is  still  more  important  that  no  one  who  has 
any  contagious  disease  should  come  near  milk  that  any- 
one else  drinks.  Everyone  who  buys  milk  ought  to  visit 
the  dairy  from  which  it  comes  to  see  how  it  is  handled. 


THE  MILK  QUESTION 

Several  years  ago,  near  Boston,  a  number  of  people 
came  down  with  typhoid  fever.  On  investigating,  it 
turned  out  that  all  these  people  had  spent  Labor  Day  at 
a  certain  hotel  and  had  all  drunk  uncooked  milk  there. 
One  of  the  waitresses,  who  was  feeling  "very  tired," 
had  dipped  out  some  milk  for  herself  from  one  of  the 


big  hotel  milk  cans.  A  few  days  later,  this  waitress  had 
come  down  with  typhoid  and  it  was  from  her  handling 
of  the  milk  that  the  typhoid  germs  had  been  swallowed 
by  fifty-nine  people,  who  carried  the  disease  to  ten  cities. 
If  people  realized  this  danger,  no  family  would  handle 
its  milk  bottles  carelessly  and  then  return  them  to  the 
milkman  unscalded,  or  even  unwashed.  Where  there  is 
actual  disease  in  a  family,  the  bottles  should  be  kept 
until  the  illness  is  over  and  then  given  to  the  milkman, 
to  be  separately  cleaned  and  boiled,  so  that  all  the  germs 


262  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

may  be  killed.  Paper  milk  bottles  are  now  coining  into 
use — an  excellent  idea,  for  they  are  perfectly  clean,  are 
used  only  once  and  are  light  and  cheap.  Until  these 
paper  bottles  are  in  common  use,  however,  we  should 
all  rinse  our  bottles  in  cold  water,  wash  them  in  hot  water 
and  soda,  then  scald  them  in  boiling  water. 

Clean,  safe  milk  is  so  necessary  for  babies  that  in  all 
the  large  cities,  "Baby  Milk  Stations"  have  been  opened, 
where  ignorant  mothers  are  taught  how  to  feed  and  care 
for  their  babies  and  where  wholesome,  pasteurized  milk 
can  be  bought  cheaply.  Thousands  and  thousands  of 
babies'  lives  have  been  saved  by  having  this  good  milk. 

In  the  chapter  on  Water,  we  talked  about  how  river 
water  may  be  made  unsafe.  ' '  Rivers ' '  of  milk  are  brought 
into  the  great  cities  from  fifty  or  a  hundred  or  more  miles 
away.  It  is  the  duty  of  each  one  of  us  to  try  to  keep  these 
' i  white  rivers ' '  clean.  "We  must  demand  clean  milk,  pay 
enough  to  get  it,  and  report  any  dealer  who  sells  dirty 
milk.  Try  straining  your  milk  very  slowly  through  a 
pad  of  absorbent  cotton  and  see  whether  it  leaves  a  dirty 
stain.  If  it  does,  talk  to  the  milk  dealer  and  if  necessary, 
report  him  to  the  Board  of  Health.  Take  care  of  your 
own  milk.  Keep  it  clean,  cool  and  covered.  Never  en- 
danger the  lives  or  health  of  others  by  letting  your  milk 
bottles  get  dirty,  sour  or  diseased.  Be  a  good  neighbor. 

THE  MTLK  QUESTION 

Give  four  reasons  why  milk  is  the  most  important  of  foods. 

Why  do  these  four  reasons  raise  a  "milk  question?" 

Can  you  give  any  reasons  why  there  was  less  danger  of  bad  milk 
seventy-five  years  ago,  than  now? 

What  should  be  the  composition  of  good  milk  ?  How  does  the  Board  of 
Health  protect  you  from  the  dishonest  milkman  who  would  "water"  the 


THE  MILK  QUESTION  263 

milk?  If  your  Board  of  Health  publishes  any  reports  of  milk  inspection, 
get  some  and  find  out  about  your  home  supply  of  milk. 

What  else  should  we  require  of  milk  besides  richness  ? 

Why  do  germs  flourish  so  well  in  milk  ?  How  do  they  get  in  ?  In  what 
three  ways  may  such  germs  affect  milk?  Are  all  such  germs  dangerous? 

Examine  the  caps  on  your  home  milk  bottles  and  report  what  is  printed 
on  them. 

What  is  "certified"  milk?  How  is  it  produced?  What  does  it  cost  in 
your  town?  Why  is  it  not  expensive  for  babies  and  sick  people,  even  if  it 
costs  more  than  other  milk? 

Tell  how  you  would  pasteurize  milk  for  a  baby  if  you  could  not  get 
certified  milk.  What  do  you  do  to  milk,  by  pasteurizing  it?  How  should 
you  care  for  it,  to  keep  it  safe? 

What  is  the  difference  between  grade  "A"  and  grade  "B"  milk  in 
New  York  City? 

Why  should  New  York  grade  "C"  milk  be  used  only  for  cooking?  Do 
you  have  such  milk  in  your  town  ?  Why  do  we  use  it  at  all  ? 

Describe  from  a  trip  to  a  model  dairy  farm,  all  the  precautions  taken 
to  produce  good  milk.  If  you  cannot  go  on  a  real  trip,  take  an  imaginary 
one  by  pictures  and  reading.  Explain  all  the  interesting  things  you  see. 

List  four  points  about  good  milk,  which  we  all  need  to  remember. 

What  two  duties  have  we  to  encourage  a  clean  milk  supply  for  our  home  ? 

Describe  the  Baby  Milk  Stations  in  your  town,  after  a  visit.  If  there 
isn't  one,  read  about  such  stations  and  give  some  reasons  why  one  would  be 
a  good  thing  in  your  home  place. 

How  can  the  "great  white  river"  of  milk  from  city  to  consumer 
be  kept  pure  and  wholesome? 


CHAPTER  IX 

GUARDIANS  OF  PUBLIC  HEALTH 

WE  are  all  so  used  to  having  Boards  of  Health  look 
after  our  welfare,  that  we  hardly  realize  that  they  have 
come  into  existence  only  during  the  last  fifty  years.  New 
York  City's  Board  of  Health  was  formed  just  after  the 
Civil  War,  in  1866.  Massachusetts  in  1869  had  the  honor 
of  starting  the  first  state  Board  of  Health  in  America. 

Of  course,  from  the  earliest  times,  states  and  nations 
have  been  more  or  less  interested  in  guarding  their  citi- 
zens' health.  In  ancient  Egypt,  a  special  class  of  priests 
acted  as  doctors.  In  the  Bible  you  will  read  how,  among 
the  Israelites,  the  priests  were  supposed  to  deal  with 
lepers,  and  to  burn  up  their  infected  clothing.  Among 
our  own  Indians,  there  have  always  been  "medicine 
men,"  whose  duty  it  is  to  drive  away  diseases  by  all 
sorts  of  nonsensical  charms. 

Before  the  Revolution,  the  American  colonies  had  no 
health  laws  except  those  for  quarantine,  which  we  will 
discuss  soon,  and  those  forbidding  anyone  to  "  commit 
a  nuisance."  By  " nuisance,"  the  law  means  any  act 
which  is  dangerous  to  the.  health  or  life  of  others  or  which 
pollutes  the  air,  earth,  water  or  food.  Thus,  if  one  of 
the  colonists  who  dyed  cloth  threw  dye  into  the  stream 
from  which  his  neighbors  drank,  they  could  bring  him 
into  court  and  sue  him.  Or  if  a  man  dumped  ill-smelling 
refuse  into  the  street,  he  committed  a  nuisance.  I  have 
read  that  Shakespere's  father  was  sued  for  dumping 

264 


GUARDIANS  OF  PUBLIC  HEALTH  265 

rubbish  in  the  street  and  for  not  keeping  his  gutter  clean. 

But,  as  I  have  said,  it  was  not  until  after  our  Civil 
War  that  we  really  woke  up  to  the  need  of  having  a 
Board  of  Health  appointed  to  guard  the  people's  health. 

Wars  always  bring  epidemics,  and  the  Civil  War  was 
no  exception,  for  the  men  had  been  herded  together  in 
dirty,  ill-kept  encampments,  had  been  wretchedly  fed  and 
clad.  The  result  was  a  vast  increase  of  illness,  especially 
among  the  "catching"  diseases,  which  in  those  days 
were  not  understood  or  rightly  treated. 

A  wise  Englishman,  Havelock  Ellis,  has  said,  "Panic 
is  the  parent  of  sanitation."  And  so  it  was  that  our 
frightened  grandparents,  seeing  pestilence  stalking  a- 
broad  after  the  Civil  War,  set  to  work  and  formed  Boards 
of  Health,  consisting  of  doctors  and  other  experienced 
men,  to  wage  war  against  disease  and  teach  the  people 
how  to  keep  well. 

The  Board  of  Health  in  a  city  has  a  vast  deal  to  do. 
In  the  first  place,  it  must  inspect  the  streets,  dwellings, 
stores,  theaters  and  factories  to  see  that  they  are  clean, 
properly  ventilated  and  sanitary. 

It  must  keep  track  of  all  cases  of  infectious  disease, 
must  quarantine  those  who  are  ill,  try  to  discover  where 
the  germs  come  from  and  how  they  are  being  spread. 
It  must  watch  the  milk  and  water  supply,  to  see  that 
they  do  not  spread  infection.  If  there  is  an  outbreak 
of  smallpox  it  must  see  that  the  vaccination  laws  are 
enforced.  If  there  is  an  influenza  epidemic,  it  may  even 
close  the  schools  and  theaters. 

The  Board  of  Health  is  also  supposed  to  keep  track 
of  all  births,  deaths  and  marriages.  In  this  way,  by 


266  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

comparing  the  figures,  year  after  year,  we  can  tell  whether 
our  city's  death  rate  is  increasing  or  falling,  whether  we, 
as  a  city,  are  less  or  more  healthy. 

We  have  already  talked  about  the  pure  food  laws,  and 
how  the  Board  of  Health  protects  the  public  from  impure 
food.  In  this  connection,  the  Health  Board  has  rooms, 
— laboratories,  they  are  called — where  they  can  examine 
and  test  foods  and  medicines  to  see  whether  they  are 
pure  and  good  and  where  they  also  examine  samples  of 
blood,  saliva,  etc.,  to  see  whether  the  person  from  whom 
the  sample  came  has  tuberculosis,  typhoid  fever,  diph- 
theria, and  so  on. 

In  many  of  the  larger  cities  and  in  some  state  Boards 
of  Health,  there  are  departments  of  the  Board  which 
attend  especially  to  tuberculosis,  to  the  care  of  infants, 
and  to  general  educational  work. 

The  educational  work  of  the  Board  of  Health  is  most 
important.  In  olden  times,  the  Boards  of  Health  did  noth- 
ing but  quarantine  infectious  diseases,  fumigate  infected 
houses,  and  investigate  complaints  against  people  who 
' '  maintained  nuisances. ' '  Nowadays,  we  know  that  ' l  an 
ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure,"  and  our 
Health  Boards  do  everything  in  their  power  to  wake  peo- 
ple up  to  the  importance  of  keeping  well.  They  print  enor- 
mous amounts  of  pamphlets,  they  employ  nurses,  they 
publish  posters,  they  hold  exhibits.  And  little  by  little, 
we  are  beginning  to  learn  how  to  live  more  healthfully. 
Gradually,  we  are  finding  out  how  the  different  diseases 
are  caused  and  how  to  avoid  them. 

I  cannot  think  of  any  more  striking  proof  of  what  a 
Board  of  Health  can  accomplish  than  the  record  of  New 


GUARDIANS  OF  PUBLIC  HEALTH  267 

York  City.  In  1870,  four  years  after  its  Board  of  Health 
was  formed,  the  death  rate  in  New  York  was  twenty-nine 
per  thousand — that  is,  out  of  every  thousand  New 
Yorkers,  twenty-nine  died  that  year.  In  1920 — after 
fifty  years  of  work  in  sanitation  and  education — only 
thirteen  died  out  of  every  thousand.  In  1920,  73,000 
people  died  in  New  York.  If  they  had  died  at  the  same 
rate  as  in  1870, 153,000  would  have  died.  That  means  that 
in  the  one  year  of  1920,  80,000  people  were  saved,  be- 
cause New  York  had  begun  to  learn  the  great  lesson  of 
public  health. 

Yes,  if  "Panic  is  the  parent  of  sanitation,"  surely 
Health  is  the  child  of  sanitation.  And  if  this  is  so,  each 
one  of  us  should,  as  a  good  neighbor,  obey  the  laws  of 
the  Health  Board,  understand  its  work,  and  do  all  we  can 
to  aid  it. 

GUARDIANS  OF  PUBLIC  HEALTH 

Can  you  tell  some  things  done  by  the  Egyptians  to  safeguard  the 
health  of  their  people?  By  Moses  for  the  Israelites?  By  our  American 
Indians?  Which  of  these  methods  were  wise  ones? 

What  was  done  for  public  health   in  America  before  the  Revolution? 

Can  you  tell  why  the  Civil  War  should  have  made  people  realize  that 
cities  and  states  needed  health  laws  and  wise,  trained  people  to  enforce 
them?  What  was  the  effect  of  the  Great  War  on  health  conditions  in 
European  countries  in  the  years  immediately  after  the  war? 

Find  out  the  early  history  of  your  home  town  with  regard  to 
its  healthfulness.  Has  there  been  improvement?  If  so,  how  was  it 
brought  about  ? 

Find  out  what  health  workers  your  town  has,  and  what  is  the  particular 
duty  of  each.  Try  to  get  an  interview  with  some  of  these  workers  and 
report  to  your  class  what  you  can  learn  about  each  division  of  the  Health 
Board  of  your  town. 

Is  food  safeguarded  in  your  town?  Find  proof  of  your  answer  in 
reports  of  the  Board  of  Health,  or  in  trips  to  laboratories. 

What  kind  of  milk  is  sold  in  your  town?  What  does  your  Health  De- 
partment do  to  keep  it  good? 


268  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

What  kind  of  water-supply  has  your  tow-n?  Is  it  controlled  by  your 
Health  Department?  How  does  it  compare  with  the  best  water  supply  in 
your  state? 

What  are  the  laws  about  vaccination  in  your  state?  How  well  do 
people  in  your  community  support  these  laws? 

Is  the  population  of  your  town  increasing  or  decreasing  in  the  last 
five  years?  Make  graphs  showing  this. 

Are  the  following  sicknesses  increasing  or  decreasing  in  your  town, 
within  the  last  five  years  ?  Show  by  graphs. 

Typhoid?     Tuberculosis?     Diphtheria? 

Do  these  graphs  tell  any  facts  about  the  work  of  your  Board  of  Health  ? 
Prove  your  statement. 

What  special  work  does  your  Board  of  Health  do  for  babies?  For 
school  children? 

What  does  your  Board  of  Health  do  to  educate  people  in  better  health 
practices?  How  could  you  help? 

Could  you  write  a  paragraph  about  your  town  or  your  state,  or  the 
largest  city  in  your  state,  like  the  paragraph  on  Page  267,  showing  the 
accomplishments  of  the  Board  of  Health  in  saving  life? 

To  do  so,  consult  the  printed  reports  of  your  Health  Department. 


CHAPTEE  X 

THE  EED  CEOSS 

JUST  about  the  time  that  Boards  of  Health  first  began 
to  be  formed  in  America,  a  great  organization  started  its 


Clara  Barton,  Founder  of  the  American  Red  Cross. 

work  in  Europe — an  organization  which  began  its  labors 
on  the  battlefields  of  Europe  and  which  is  now  doing 
health  work  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

The  Nineteenth  Century  was  one  long  succession  of 


270  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

wars.  From  1853  to  1856,  England,  Japan  and  France 
fought  Eussia  in  what  is  called  the  Crimean  War,  and  no 
sooner  was  this  over  than  France  and  Austria  went 
to  war. 

In  those  days  you  cannot  imagine  how  terribly  the 
wounded  soldiers  suffered.  While  the  battle  raged,  they 
were  left  on  the  ground  to  die  or  be  taken  prisoners — and 
often  a  battle  might  last  several  days. 

A  young  Swiss,  named  Henri  Dunant,  who  had  him- 
self been  on  the  battlefield  and  seen  how  terribly  the  men 
suffered  for  lack  of  nursing  and  care,  conceived  the  idea 
of  forming  a  union  of  all  nations  to  care  for  the  wounded 
as  Florence  Nightingale  had  done  for  the  British  during 
the  Crimean  War. 

Dunant  succeeded  in  interesting  other  men  of  influ- 
ence and  the  result  was  that  in  1864,  while  our  Civil  War 
was  still  raging,  fourteen  nations  sent  men  to  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  to  draw  up  an  agreement.  By  this  agree- 
ment, which  is  called  the  Geneva  Convention,  the  nations 
promised  that  they  would  all  work  together  to  care  f or 
the  sick  and  wounded  of  all  countries  and  that  they  would 
not  fire  on  any  doctor,  nurs,e,  ambulance  or  hospital  that 
carried  the  sign  of  the  Red  Cross.  The  Red  Cross  flag 
was  adopted — a  red  cross  on  a  white  ground,  just  the 
reverse  of  the  Swiss  flag,  which  is  a  white  cross  on  a 
red  ground.  The  two  watchwords  of  the  Red  Cross  were 
"Humanity"  and  "Neutrality,"  for  the  Red  Cross  cares 
for  friend  and  enemy,  and  for  all  races  and  creeds  alike. 

At  this  time,  as  I  have  said,  America  was  too  upset 
by  the  Civil  War  to  know  or  care  what  was  happening 
in  Europe,  so  we  had  no  representative  at  the  Geneva 


THE  RED  CROSS  271 

Conference  and,  of  course,  no  Red  Cross  to  care  for 
our  soldiers. 

We  did,  however,  have  a  great  many  noble,  devoted 
men  and  women,  such  as  Dorothea  Dix,  "Mother" 
Bickerdyke  and  Clara  Barton,  who  worked  night  and  day 
caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  But  they  had  no  re- 
gular training,  no  organization,  no  official  place  in  the 
army,  nor  power  given  them  by  the  Government. 

When  the  Civil  War  at  last  ended,  Clara  Barton  went 
to  Europe  for  a  well-earned  rest,  and  there  she  heard 
all  about  the  new  international  agreement  and  the  Red 
Cross.  In  the  terrible  war  between  France  and  Germany, 
in  1870,  she  saw  how  the  Red  Cross  doctors  and  nurses 
worked  like  a  well-trained  army  to  aid  the  suffering,  and 
were  given  every  recognition  and  help  from  their  Govern- 
ments. Doubtless  she  sighed  as  she  remembered  her  own 
hard  struggle  during  the  Civil  War. 

Returning  to  America,  she  talked  everywhere  about 
the  fine  work  done  by  the  Red  Cross  until  at  last  she 
persuaded  others  to  realize  as  she  did  our  need  of  such 
an  organization,  and  in  1882  the  Geneva  treaty  was 
signed  by  the  United  States,  and  the  American  Red  Cross 
was  formed.  Clara  Barton,  as  was  right,  was  made  its 
first  President. 

It  seems  a  great  pity  that  our  Red  Cross  could  not 
have  been  formed  before  instead  of  after  the  Civil  War. 
However,  although  there  was  no  war,  the  Red  Cross  did 
not  lack  work.  A  fearful  forest  fire  broke  out  in  Michigan 
and  hundreds  of  people  were  left  homeless. 

Here  was  Clara  Barton's  opportunity  to  show  what 
the  Red  Cross  could  do.  She  sent  out  an  appeal  for  food, 


372  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

clothes  and  money  and  soon  the  supplies  were  being 
packed,  stamped  with  the  Eed  Cross  seal  and  shipped 
to  Michigan. 

Other  disasters  followed — fearful  floods  on  the 
Mississippi,  at  Johnstown,  and  at  Dayton,  and  the  earth- 
quake at  San  Francisco.  Always  the  Red  Cross  was  on 


Red  Cross  Workers,  Fighting  the  Bubonic  Plague. 

hand,  its  workers  risking  their  own  lives  to  save  and 
help  others. 

In  addition  to  the  National  Eed  Cross,  branches  had 
sprung  up  all  over  the  country,  so  that  now  there  is 
scarcely  a  village  that  is  not  interested  in  Red  Cross  work. 
When  the  World  War  came,  the  Red  Cross  was  indeed 
t '  The  Greatest  Mother  in  the  World. ' '  Red  Cross  work- 
ers toiled  on  the  battlefields,  in  the  hospitals  and  among 
the  war-wrecked  homes  of  every  land. 


THE  RED  CROSS  273 

On  September  15,  1917,  President  Wilson,  who  was 
also  President  of  the  American  Red  Cross,  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  school  children  of  the  United  States  in  regard  to 
the  newly  formed  Junior  Bed  Cross.  He  said, 

"Our  Junior  Eed  Cross  will  bring  to  you  opportun- 
ities of  service  to  your  community  and  to  other  commu- 
nities all  over  the  world  and  guide  your  service  with  high 
and  religious  ideals.  It  will  teach  you  how  to  save  in 
order  that  suffering  children  elsewhere  may  have  the 
chance  to  live.  It  will  teach  you  how  to  prepare  some  of 
the  supplies  which  wounded  soldiers  and  homeless  fam- 
ilies lack.  It  will  send  to  you  through  the  Red  Cross 
bulletins  the  thrilling  stories  of  relief  and  rescue.  And 
best  of  all,  more  perfectly  than  through  any  of  your  other 
school  lessons,  you  will  learn  by  doing  those  kind  things 
under  your  teacher's  direction,  to  be  the  future  good 
citizens  of  this  great  country  which  we  all  love." 

And  the  children  of  America  answered  nobly  to  the 
President's  appeal.  They  saved  their  pennies  and  sent 
them  abroad  to  feed  the  Belgian  and  French  children. 
They  learned  to  prepare  surgical  dressings  for  the 
wounded,  they  made  splints,  they  cut  out  puzzles,  they 
cut  out  and  sewed  clothing,  they  knitted  garments.  No 
child  was  too  small  to  do  his  part. 

And  now  that  the  war  is  over,  the  Red  Cross  and  the 
Junior  Red  Cross  are  still  busy,  spreading  the  knowledge 
of  healthful  living,  aiding  the  poor,  nursing  the  sick,  sup- 
plying food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  and  above  all  bringing 
the  sunshine  of  human  sympathy  into  darkened  lives. 

"That  the  boys  and  girls  of  today  may  be  taught  to 
think  first  of  others;  that  a  live  interest  in  behalf  of 

18 


274  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

children  near  at  hand  and  in  distant  countries  may  be 
aroused,  stimulated  and  given  an  outlet;  that,  in  their 
school  days,  they  may  come  to  be  moved  by  a  spirit  of 
helpfulness  and  interdependence;  all  in  the  hope  that  the 
men  and  women  of  tomorrow  may  ever  think  in  terms  of 
service  to  others ;  and  that  they  may  all  enjoy  a  bigger, 
better,  broader  citizenship — this  is  the  purpose  and  goal 
of  the  Junior  Eed  Cross." 

RED  CROSS 

Tell  the  story  of  Henri  Dunant.  Why  do  we  want  to  remember  the 
Geneva  Convention? 

Why  didn't  the  United  States  send  a  representative  to  the  Geneva 
Convention?  What  difference  did  this  make  to  us? 

Make  a  story  about  Clara  Barton's  founding  of  the  American  Red  Cross. 

Make  a  list  of  all  the  kinds  of  work  the  Red  Cross  did  in  your  community 
during  the  Great  War. 

From  your  reading,  make  a  list  of  work  the  Red  Cross  had  done  besides 
war-work,  in  the  years  before  the  Great  War.  Find  out  what  kinds  of 
work  the  Red  Cross  is  doing  now  in  your  town — in  your  state.  Are  you 
doing  Junior  Red  Cross  work? 

If  there  is  no  chapter  of  the  Junior  Red  Cross  in  your  school  find  out  from 
the  nearest  Red  Cross  Chapter  how  to  organize  one.  Find  out  what  kinds 
of  work  Junior  Red  Cross  workers  do.  If  you  think  this  worthwhile  work, 
organize  a  Junior  Red  Cross  and  make  a  program  of  service  your  group 
could  carry  out. 

Why  have  chapters  of  Junior  Red  Cross  been  approved  by  men  like 
Woodrow  Wilson — do  you  think? 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  YELLOW  FLAG 

ONE  of  the  most  entertaining  times  I  ever  had  in  my 
life  was  when  my  sister  and  I  had  the  measles.  I  will 
admit  that  there  were  several  unhappy,  hot,  fretty  days 
when  we  were  both  pretty  ill  and  could  think  of  nothing 
better  to  do  than  to  quarrel  over  the  question  of  which 
was  worse,  my  backache  or  her  headache.  The  measles 
seems  to  make  one  feel  cross  and  unreasonable.  My  sis- 
ter was  usually  a  very  polite  little  girl,  but  I  remember 
that  when  our  neighbor,  Mrs.  Elwood,  brought  in  some 
nice  lemon  jelly  for  her,  Ethel  turned  away  her  head 
and  said,  "Take  away  that  horrid  stuff!"  much  to  my 
horror  and  my  mother's  mortification. 

But  after  a  few  days,  Ethel  and  I  both  felt  perfectly 
well  and  were  ready  to  go  back  to  school.  The  doctor, 
however,  shook  his  head  and  said  we  must  remain  at 
home  at  least  a  week. 

"It  is  necessary  that  they  remain  in  quarantine,"  he 
said,  "for  measles  is  very  contagious." 

Ethel  was  only  nine  years  old,  but  she  was  fond  of  big 
words  and  always  wanted  to  know  their  meaning,  so  now 
she  immediately  asked  Mother  what  ' '  contagious ' '  meant 
and  whether  "quarantine"  was  a  very  dreadful  place. 

Mother  laughed.  "I  don't  think  you'll  find  it  so  very 
bad,"  she  said.  "Staying  in  quarantine  simply  means 
staying  here  at  home  and  keeping  away  from  other  peo- 
ple, so  that  they  will  not  catch  the  measles." 

275 


276  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

"Well  then  why  didn't  he  say  so,  instead  of  talking 
about  '  quarantine  '  and  i  contagion  '  ?  "  said  I.  '  '  I  hate  peo- 
ple who  use  great  big  words  for  little,  every-day  things.  '  ' 

"So  do  I,"  agreed  Mother,  "but  sometimes  the  big 
words,  when  you  understand  what  they  mean,  and  how 
they  came  to  mean  it,  are  really  very  interesting." 

So  Ethel  sat  on  Mother's  lap  and  I  leaned  against 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   PENNSYLVANIA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  HEALTH 

MEASLES 

THESE  PREMISES  ARE  UNDER  STATE  QUARANTINE 

No  person  shall  be  permitted  to  enter,  leave  or  take  any  article  from  this  house  without  permission  from  a 
legally  authorized  agent  of  the  State  Department  of  Health,  excepting  physicians  and  trained  nurses  in  charge 

Animals  must  not  be  permitted  to  leave  these  premises. 

No  person  other  than  those  authorized  by  the  Department  of  Health  shall  remove  this  placard.  Any 
person  or  persons  defacing,  covering  up,  or  destroying  this  placard  render  themselves  liable  to  the  penalties 
of  the  law.  _  _  ___ 

Act  of  Assembly  approved  July  17,  1919,  provides  that  any  one  violating  the  provisions  of  this  Act. 
upon  conviction  thereof,  may  be  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  not  less  than  $10.00  or  more  than  $100.00,  to  be  paid  to  the 
use  of  said  county,  and  costs  of  prosecution,  or  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  ten 
days  or  more  than  thirty  days,  or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

By  order  of  the  Department  of  Health. 


Health  Officer. 

Posted 19 


Addrew. 


her  knee  and  she  told  us  all  about  infectious  and  contag- 
ious diseases  and  how  they  are  treated.  Nothing  that 
I  have  read  since  has  seemed  so  clear  and  interesting 
to  me,  for  as  Mother  talked,  the  "big  words  "  seemed  to 
turn  into  big  windows,  through  which  I  looked  back  in- 
to other  days. 

In  the  first  place,  Mother  told  us  that  the  word  ' '  con- 
tagion ' '  comes  from  a  Latin  word  that  means  to  '  '  touch. '  ' 


THE  YELLOW  FLAG  277 

So  a  contagious  disease  is  one  whose  germs  are  car- 
ried from  one  person  to  another  by  their  touching  each 
other,  kissing,  coughing  in  each  other's  face,  or  even  by 
using  the  same  cup,  towel,  or  spoon.  "Of  course/'  said 
Mother,  "you  know  that  disease  seeds,  or  germs,  from  a 
sick  person  can  be  carried  in  water,  milk,  food  and  by 
flies  and  mosquitoes  to  a  well  person  and  make  him  ill. 
But  one  of  the  commonest  of  all  ways  for  germs  to  travel 
is  on  your  hands. ' ' 

Then  she  explained  to  us  how  necessary  it  is  never 
to  leave  the  toilet  without  washing  one's  hands  and  al- 
ways to  wash  them  before  meals  and  how  cdreful  we 
should  be  to  keep  our  hands  away  from  our  noses  and 
mouths.  Almost  all  of  the  germ  diseases  get  into  your 
body  through  your  nose  or  mouth.  "Don't  'lend  them 
a  hand' !"  said  Mother. 

Ethel  never  believed  anything  unless  she  first  experi- 
mented and  proved  it  herself,  so  when  Mother  told  us 
we  must  always  sneeze  into  our  handkerchiefs,  because 
the  spray  from  our  noses  (and  the  germs  of  our  cold 
with  it)  would  fly  into  the  noses  and  mouths  of  people 
nearby,  Ethel  ran  out  into  the  kitchen  and  came  back 
with  the  pepper-shaker  in  one  hand  and  a  mirror  in  the 
other.  Then,  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  the  born  scien- 
tist, she  bravely  peppered  her  nose  and  in  a  moment  was 
shaken  by  a  terrific  sneeze,  then  another  and  another. 
But  through  it  all,  she  held  the  mirror  at  arm's  length 
before  her  face.  Mother  certainly  was  right,  the  whole 
mirror  was  spattered  with  the  flying  spray. 

' '  Well, ' '  gasped  Ethel, '  *  I  guess  you  're  right,  Mother. 
After  this  I'll  always  sneeze  into  my  handkerchief  and 


278  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

if  I  sit  near  anyone  who  coughs  and  sneezes,  I'll  cover 
my  nose  and  mouth,  in  case  he  doesn't  cover  his." 

But  one  of  the  most  interesting  things  that  Mother 
told  us  was  about  "quarantine."  She  explained  that  in 
olden  times,  people  did  not  know  about  the  different  dis- 
ease germs  or  how  to  fight  them.  In  the  days  of  what  was 
called  the  "Great  Plague"  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  about  one-third  of  the  people  of  London  died 
of  it.  They  did  not  know  what  caused  the  plague,  and 
they  never  dreamed  -of  the  existence  of  germs,  but  they 
saw  that  the  disease  seemed  to  go  from  a  sick  person 
to  a  well  'one,  so  wherever  anyone  lay  ill  of  the  plague, 
a  red  cross  was  painted  on  the  front  door  and  over  it 
they  wrote, ' '  The  Lord  have  mercy  upon  us ! "  Of  course 
anyone  who  saw  the  red  cross,  did  as  anyone  nowadays 
does  when  he  sees  a,  scarlet  fever  or  small-pox  sign  on 
a  house — he  staid  out. 

One  of  the  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  fighting  the 
spread  of  disease  is  the  fact  that  when  a  city  is  stricken 
with  any  disease — or  epidemic,  as  we  say — the  people  get 
scared  and  want  to  move  away  to  some  other  place. 
Then,  some  of  them  may  be  just  coming  down  with  the 
disease  and  carry  it  with  them  to  their  new  home,  where 
it  spreads  and  starts  another  epidemic.  Spreading  dis- 
ease in  this  way  is  not  being  a  good  neighbor,  but  many 
people  are  selfish  and  think  only  of  themselves.  Then 
too,  some  people  are  ignorant  and  do  not  realize  that 
they  are  carrying  danger  to  others. 

When  the  plague  was  raging  in  the  East,  many  ships 
laden  with  spices,  embroideries  and  other  oriental  goods 
were  sailing  from  Turkish,  Persian,  Egyptian  and  other 


THE  YELLOW  FLAG  279 

ports  to  England.  Often  some  member  of  the  crew  would 
fall  ill  with  the  plague  and  the  English  were  afraid  to 
have  anyone  from  the  ship  land.  So  they  made  a  rule 
that  any  ship  from  an  infected  port — that  is,  one  where 
there  was  a  "catching"  disease — should  lie  out  in  the 
harbor  for  forty  days.  If  at  the  end  of  that  time  there 


Ellis  Island  Immigrant  Station,  New  York  City,  where  Immigrants  are  Quarantined. 

was  no  sign  of  the  disease  on  board,  the  sailors  and  cargo 
were  allowed  to  land.  Now,  if  you  have  studied  French, 
you  know  that  "quarante"  is  French  for  "forty,"  and 
that  is  where  we  get  our  word  ' '  quarantine. ' '  It  origin- 
ally meant  forty  days  of  tedious  waiting  before  a  ship 
could  land. 

Now,  however,  the  doctors  understand  better  the  signs 
of  illness  and  how  to  treat  it,  so  that  ships  ordinarily 


280  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

do  not  have  to  wait  at  all.  But  we  still  at  all  the  big 
ports  have  a  quarantine  station  where  immigrants  are 
examined  to  make  sure  that  they  are  not  bringing  in  any 
contagious  disease.  A  ship  that  is  being  held  for  quar- 
antine flies  a  yellow  flag,  and  above  every  quarantine 
station  the  yellow  flag  appears. 

Of  course  you  know  that  there  are  some  diseases  that 
are  not  "catching' ' — that  is  they  do  not  come  from  germs 
and  cannot  travel  from  one  person  to  another,  and  for 
those  diseases  of  course  no  quarantine  is  needed.  But  in 
mumps,  measles,  whooping-cough,  scarlet  fever  and  many 
other  diseases,  it  is  very  necessary  that  the  sick  person 
should  be  kept  away  from  others — kept  in  quarantine. 

In  order  to  see  that  this  is  done,  every  town  has  a 
Board  of  Health  and  if  you  have  any  contagious  disease, 
it  is  the  duty  of  your  doctor  to  report  it  to  the  Board 
of  Health  and  in  most  places  it  is  the  rule  that  a  sign 
must  be  put  on  your  house,  so  that  no  one  shall  come  in 
and  catch  your  illness.  It  is  really  a  little  like  the  signs 
that  they  used  in  the  time  of  the  plague,  but  now-a-days 
we  don  ?t  just  say  ' l  God  have  mercy  upon  us ! "  We  have 
learned  how  to  keep  well  by  leading  healthy  lives,  keep- 
ing clean,  getting  lots  of  fresh  air,  exercise,  good  food 
and  sleep  and  also  to  avoid  the  seeds  of  disease,  by  keep- 
ing infected  water,  food  and  milk  and  germ-laden  hands 
out  of  our  mouths. 

All  these  things  my  mother  told  Ethel  and  me  long 
ago,  and  I  vowed  then  and  there  that  I  would  protect 
myself  by  avoiding  contagion  and  protect  my  neighbors 
by  staying  obediently  in  quarantine.  But  since  I  have 
grown  up,  I  have  been  surprised  to  see  how  many  people 


THE  YELLOW  FLAG  281 

— even  grown  people — seem  to  think  it  is  clever  to  deceive 
their  neighbors  and  avoid  being  quarantined. 

The  other  day  my  neighbor,  Mrs.  Frost,  said  to  me, 
when  I  asked  her  where  Dorothy  was,  "Well,  the  truth 
is  that  she  has  the  measles,  but  I'm  not  letting  anyone 
know.  Eobert  seems  perfectly  well  and  I  don't  want  to 
keep  him  home  from  school,  and  of  course  if  the  school 
knew  it,  they'd  send  Robert  home." 

So  the  whole  school  was  in  danger  of  getting  the  mea- 
sles just  because  Mrs.  Frost  was  a  bad  neighbor.  And 
yet,  a  few  weeks  later,  when  Robert  caught  the  whoop- 
ing-cough from  a  playmate,  Mrs.  Frost  was  most  indig- 
nant because  the  child's  mother  had  not  kept  him  indoors. 
She  seemed  never  to  realize  that  the  only  way  to  have 
good  neighbors  is  to  be  a  good  neighbor. 

THE  YELLOW  FLAG 

Explain  why  people  use  the  word  "contagious"  about  catching  diseases. 

What  GOOD  HABITS  must  we  form  to  avoid  taking  and  spreading  con- 
tagious diseases? 

Why  is  it  necessary  to  keep  away  from  others  if  you  are  getting  well 
after  a  contagious  disease — or  have  been  exposed  to  such  a  disease?  Why 
do  we  use  the  word  "quarantine"  under  these  circumstances? 

When  do  ships,  nowadays,  still  have  to  wait  in  quarantine,  before 
landing  passengers  ?  Where  is  the  chief  quarantine  station  in  our  country  ? 

For  what  diseases  is  quarantine  necessary  in  your  state  or  city?  If  you 
do  not  know,  write  to  City  or  State  Board  of  Health,  or  ask  your  doctor. 
You  might  also  ask  for  how  long  a  person  must  keep  quarantine,  today. 

How  will  you,  as  a  good  neighbor,  help  your  city  or  state  Board  of 
Health  to  prevent  the  spread  of  contagious  diseases? 


CHAPTER  XII 

INOCULATION 

DURING  the  Great  War,  we  were  all  thrilled  by  the 
newspaper  accounts  of  bravery  in  battle  and  were  justly 
proud  of  our  brave  soldiers  and  the  fine  men  who  led 
them  to  victory.  We  felt  that  they  were  saving  us  from 
an  enemy  who  threatened  the  peace  and  freedom  of  the 
whole  world. 

But  while  we  honor  the  army  and  navy,  we  are  apt 
to  forget  that  there  is  another  army  just  as  brave  which 
fights  to  save  us  from  just  as  dangerous  an  enemy.  I 
mean  the  great  army  of  doctors  and  scientists  who  spend 
their  lives  studying  the  causes  of  disease  and  finding  out 
the  best  ways  to  fight  it. 

One  of  the  best  and  bravest  of  this  army  was  Dr. 
Edward  Jenner,  and  the  enemy  whom  he  put  to  flight  was 
the  terrible  disease  called  the  small-pox. 

I  suppose  that  most  people  never  have  known  anyone 
who  had  the  small-pox — I  know  that  I  have  never  met 
with  a  case  of  it — but  in  olden  times  it  was  as  common  as 
the  measles.  Everyone,  almost,  had  it  quite  as  a  matter 
of  course,  and  a  lady  whose  face  was  not  marked  with 
its  ugly  traces  was  considered  a  beauty.  But  it  not  mere- 
ly spoiled  people's  looks.  Many  were  blinded  by  it,  and 
thousands  upon  thousands  were  killed. 

Now  Dr.  Jenner,  at  the  time  of  our  American 
Revolution,  was  a  country  doctor  in  the  beautiful  county 
of  Gloucestershire,  in  England.  He  was  something  of  a 


INOCULATION  283 

musician  and  a  poet,  too,  and  perhaps  that  is  why  he  was 
not  content  to  plod  along  doing  as  other  country  doctors 
did,  but  used  his  imagination  and  thought  things  out 
for  himself. 

He  noticed  that  quite  frequently  dairy-maids  had,  on 
their  hands,  sores  that  came  from  milking  cows  who  had 
the  cow-pox  and  he  heard  fine  ladies  lamenting  that  they 
too  could  not  have  these  sores,  for  they  said  that  the  dairy- 
maids who  had  the  cow-pox  never  caught  the  small-pox. 

Of  course  Dr.  Jenner  knew  what  we  all  have  noticed, 
that  there  are  a  good  many  diseases  that  never  trouble 
the  same  person  twice.  If  you  have  had  measles,  you 
do  not  usually  take  it  again,  and  it  is  the  same  with 
whooping-cough,  mumps  and  many  other  catching  dis- 
eases. Doctors  still  disagree  as  to  the  exact  reason  for 
this,  but  they  all  agree  that  when  a  person  "  catches "  a 
disease  germ,  his  body  sets  to  work  at  once  to  fight  the 
germ.  After  such  a  fight  with  measles,  for  instance,  the 
body  seems  to  have  succeeded  in  developing  within  itself 
a  substance  that  actually  kills  the  measles  germ. 

So  when  Dr.  Jenner  found  that  the  dairy -maids  who 
had  had  the  cow-pox  did  not  catch  the  small-pox,  he 
thought  that  the  cow-pox  must  really  be  a  light  form  of 
small-pox.  "If  that  is  so,"  thought  he,  "if  I  can  give 
people  the  cow-pox,  I  shall  save  them  from  having  the 
small-pox." 

So  he  found  a  dairy-maid  named  Sarah  Nelmes  who 
had  cow-pox  sores  on  her  hand  and  from  these  sores  he 
took  some  matter,  with  which  he  "vaccinated"  a  little 
boy  eight  years  old  called  James  Phipps.  It  was  called 
"vaccination"  because  "vacca"  is  Latin  for  cow.  I 


284  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

imagine  little  James  must  have  been  very  much  fright- 
ened, for  vaccination  was  an  utterly  new  thing — not  a 
matter  of  course  as  it  is  now  when  practically  everyone 
has  at  least  one  vaccination  scar.  And  James's  fears 
were  not  lessened  by  the  silly  talk  of  some  grown  people 
who  said  that  the  vaccine  would  make  patches  of  cow 
hair  grow  on  his  body,  that  it  would  make  his  face  look 
like  an  animal — and  all  sorts  of  other  ridiculous  stories. 

But  about  six  weeks  later,  when  Dr.  Jenner  put  some 
matter  from  a  real  small-pox  sore  into  a  cut  on  James's 
arm,  James  did  not  show  any  sign  of  taking  the  small-pox 
at  all. 

After  this,  vaccination  became  quite  the  fashion.  All 
the  court  ladies  and  gentlemen  hurried  to  Dr.  Jenner  to 
be  vaccinated.  In  Italy,  the  "blessed  vaccine"  was  re- 
ceived with  religious  processions.  The  Indians  here  in 
our  own  America  sent  a  letter  to  Dr.  Jenner,  saying,  "We 
shall  not  fail  to  teach  our  children  to  speak  the  name  of 
Jenner  and  to  thank  the  Great  Spirit  for  bestowing  upon 
him  so  much  wisdom  and  so  much  benevolence."  In 
Eussia,  the  Empress  Catherine  II,  ordered  that  the  first 
child  to  be  vaccinated  should  be  named  "Vaccinoff," 
should  ride  to  Petrograd  in  her  own  royal  coach,  be  edu- 
cated free  and  given  a  pension  for  life. 

And  so  the  terrible  enemy  called  small-pox,  which  had 
killed  millions  of  innocent  people,  was  overcome  by  a 
modest  country  doctor.  To  be  sure,  the  disease  has  never 
been  entirely  stamped  out,  for  there  is  no  country  where 
every  man,  woman  and  child  is  vaccinated.  But  if  the 
whole  world  would  do  what  Germany  did  in  1874  and 
require  every  child  to  be  vaccinated  at  birth  and  again  in 


INOCULATION  285 

his  early  teens,  small-pox  would  cease.  During  the  war 
between  France  and  Prussia,  in  1870,  25,000  unvaccin- 
ated  French  soldiers  died.  Of  the  Germans,  although 


LOUIS  PASTEUR 

they  lived  right  with  the  French  prisoners,  only  about 
350  out  of  a  million  died. 

Since  the  days  of  Dr.  Jenner,  the  great  and  good 
Frenchman,  Louis  Pasteur,  studied  further  the  subject 
of  vaccination,  or  inoculation,  and  discovered  how  to  in- 


286  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

oculate  people  who  had  been  bitten  by  mad  dogs,  so  that 
they  would  not  have  the  rabies  and  die.  In  cities  all 
over  the  world  there  are  now  Pasteur  Institutes,  where 
people  who  have  been  bitten  may  go  and  be  saved  by 
Pasteur's  treatment. 

And  more  recently  still,  the  discovery  has  been  made 
that  typhoid  fever  may  be  prevented  by  inoculation.  Dur- 
ing the  War,  our  soldiers  were  all  protected  in  this  way. 
Many,  many  doctors  and  scientists  are  still  studying  this 
question  of  curing  contagious  diseases  by  inoculating 
people  with  a  mild  form  of  the  seed  or  bacteria  of  that 
disease.  Will  it  not  be  wonderful  when,  for  every  such 
disease,  the  doctor  will  give  us  a  special  sort  of  inocu- 
lation? I  suppose  we  shall  be  pretty  well  scarred  up, 
but  think  of  a  world  where  the  contagious  diseases  are 
all  ended ! 

Of  course,  no  one  enjoys  being  vaccinated,  but  we 
must  learn  to  be  good  neighbors  and  work  together  for 
the  common  good.  The  Board  of  Health  provides  the 
vaccine  and  every  good  citizen  should  be  willing  and  anx- 
ious to  prevent  spreading  disease. 

The  other  day  I  read  of  a  case  of  good  citizenship 
that  I  think  you  should  know  about.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War,  small-pox  spread  alarmingly  among  the 
men  in  the  Confederate  Army  and  it  was  ordered  that  the 
whole  army,  about  250,000  men,  should  be  vaccinated.  But 
they  did  not  know  where  to  get  vaccine  enough  to  vaccin- 
ate such  a  great  number  all  at  once.  Can  you  imagine 
what  they  did?  They  took  what  vaccine  they  had  and 
with  it  they  vaccinated,  in  six  places  on  each  arm,  every 
healthy  child  of  healthy  parents  in  the  city  of  Eichmond, 


INOCULATION  287 

Virginia.  When  it  was  explained  that  this  was  done 
for  the  sake  of  the  soldiers,  not  one  child  refused  to  be 
vaccinated.  Two  weeks  later,  when  the  scabs  fell  off, 
they  were  collected,  and  the  vaccine  from  these  scabs  was 
used  to  vaccinate  the  250,000  soldiers. 

The  gentleman  who  told  this  story  said,  "Even  up  to 
the  present  time,  I  occasionally  see  some  man  or  woman 
with  six  faint  scars  on  each  arm,  standing  as  a  record 
of  service  rendered  as  an  infant  to  the  Confederate  Army 
in  1863. " 

INOCULATION 

Who  was  Dr.  Jenner?  Describe  his  observations  on  the  dairy -maids 
who  had  cow-pox.  Why  did  Dr.  Jenner  think  he  could  help  his  country- 
men by  giving  them  cow-pox?  Do  we  believe  this  today? 

What  results  followed  Dr.  Jenner's  experiments?  In  what  ways  did 
various  people  show  their  appreciation  of  his  work?  Describe  some  results 
of  vaccination  in  saving  health  and  life?  Tell  the  story  of  how  children 
saved  the  Confederate  Army  from  small-pox. 

How  did  Pasteur  cure  rabies? 

How  do  we  now  prevent  typhoid  fever?     Diphtheria? 

Can  you  now  explain  the  word  that  stands  at  the  head  of  this  chapter? 
What  is  the  good  of  this  process? 

Take  sides,  and  have  a  debate  on  this  question:  — 

WTho  is  the  greater  man,  Pasteur  or  Napoleon?  Dr.  Jenner,  or 
Lord  Nelson  ? 

What  school,  city  or  state  rules  are  there  in  your  community,  about 
vaccination  of  any  kind? 

Are  you  a  "Good  Neighbor"  as  far  as  they  are  concerned?  If  not, 
what  must  you  do  to  become  one? 


CHAPTER  XIII 

HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES 

WHEN  we  hear  people  talk  about  fighting  dangerous 
animals,  we  generally  think  of  tiger  hunts  in  India,  or 
of  capturing  lions  and  elephants,  or  shooting  wild  boars. 
But  the  other  day  I  heard  three  scientists  talking  of 
dangerous  animals  and  they  were  not  discussing  tigers 
and  lions  and  elephants.  They  were  talking  about  the 
best  ways  of  fighting  flies,  mosquitoes  and  rats ! 

I  don't  know  why  it  is  that  people  always  seem  to  think 
that  big  things  must  be  important  things,  for  really  it  is 
the  little  things  in  this  world  that  make  us  ill  or  well, 
sad  or  happy.  America  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
large  animals,  but  some  of  the  tiny  ones  are  her 
worst  enemies. 

As  germs  have  neither  feet  nor  wings,  they  cannot 
move  themselves  from  place  to  place,  but  must  be  car- 
ried. We  have  already  talked  about  how  they  may  travel 
in  water,  milk  and  food  and  on  careless  people's  hands. 
Now  I  want  to  tell  you  something  about  how  they  make 
flies,  mosquitoes  and  rats  serve  them  as  horses. 

In  the  days  before  microscopes,  when  we  knew  nothing 
about  germs,  the  fly  was  thought  a  bothersome  creature, 
who  loved  to  fall  into  milk-pitchers  and  to  light  on  your 
nose  when  you  were  asleep,  but  no  one  ever  dreamed 
that  he  was  really  dangerous.  I  remember  in  one  of  my 
books  when  I  was  a  little  girl,  there  was  a  picture  of  a 

288 


HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES 


19 


290  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

baby  eating  a  bowl  of  bread  and  milk.    A  fly  was  also 
eating  from  the  bowl  and  underneath  were  the  words : 
' '  Catch  him  I     No !  Now  you  see  his  wings  of  silk 

Let  him  go ;  Drabbled  in  the  baby's  milk. 

Never  hurt  an  insect  so.        Fie !     Oh  fie ! 
But,  no  doubt,  Foolish  fly ! 

He  flies  out  How  will  he  get  dry  ? ' ' 

Just  to  gad  about. 

Of  course  the  idea  in  these  verses,  that  we  should  be 
kind  to  all  animals,  is  a  good  one.  It  is  cruel  to  make 
even  a  fly  suffer,  unless,  in  doing  so,  we  prevent  suffering 
for  someone  else.  But  just  think,  for  a  moment,  how 
much  suffering  every  fly  that  is  allowed  to  live  is  likely 
to  cause. 

In  the  first  place,  as  I  said,  many,  many  sleeping 
babies  and  helpless  sick  people  are  annoyed  and  lose  sleep 
because  of  flies.  Many  people  are  so  disgusted  at  having 
the  filth-covered  feet  of  flies  walking  over  their  food  that 
they  can  scarcely  eat.  But  worse  than  these  annoyances 
are  the  real  dangers  that  flies  cause. 

They  fly  from  stables,  pig-pens  and  out-houses 
straight  to  groceries,  bakeries,  and  people's  dinner  tables. 
Especially  in  country  places  where  there  is  no  plumbing, 
a  fly  may  carry  the  germs  of  typhoid  fever  from  one 
family's  out-house  to  the  next  family's  breakfast-table. 
This  is  disgusting,  but  it  is  worse — it  is  very  dangerous. 

Luckily,  nowadays,  most  places  realize  this  danger 
and  "swat  the  fly"  campaigns  have  started  all  over  the 
country.  But  it  is  a  long,  if  not  impossible  task  to  swat 
every  fly.  The  better  way  is  to  prevent  the  fly  from 
being  born. 


HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES 


291 

in   stables. 


Most  fly-eggs  are  laid  in  the  manure 
Therefore  if  all  manure  is  kept  in  a  well-screened  place, 
the  flies  cannot  get  to  it.  Besides  this,  all  manure  should 
be  removed  frequently. 

Flies  also  lay  their  eggs,  if  they  can  find  no  better 
place,  in  any  dirt  that  they  can  find — even  a  dirty  piece 


Mass  of  Fly  Pupae  Separated  from  Stable  Manure  (Natural  Size). 

of  old  cloth  will  do.  So  every  "swat  the  fly"  campaign 
should  include  a  thorough  "clean-up"  time.  Every  bit 
of  dirty  rubbish  should  be  burned  up,  so  that  Mrs.  Fly 
may  have  no  nest  for  her  eggs. 

Traps  and  screens  are  useful — indeed,  they  are  neces- 
sary, so  long  as  a  single  fly  is  still  alive — but  the  great 
thing  is  to  prevent  flies  by  destroying  their  nests. 


292 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


Most  of  the  flies  die  off  when  cold  weather  comes,  but 
some  crawl  into  sheltered,  warm  cracks  and  corners,  or 
live  in  hot-houses,  laundries,  bakeries  and  other  heated 
places,  and  when  the  spring  comes,  out  they  creep.  Then 
the  egg-laying  begins  and  keeps  on  at  such  a  rate  that  by 
" fly- time"  in  August,  there  are  millions  and  millions. 


If  every  community  in  America  would  have  a  cam- 
paign every  spring  to  prevent  breeding-places,  and  to 
trap  and  kill  the  flies  that  did  get  hatched,  in  a  few  years 
flies  would  be  so  scarce  that  we  should  be  showing  them 
in  museums,  as  a  great  curiosity.  In  many  cities  the 
children  have  taken  a  large  part  in  such  campaigns  and 
I  don't  know  of  any  more  useful  thing  for  a  boys'  or 
girls'  club  to  do. 

Now  as  to  the  rats,  the  germs  use  them  rather  differ- 


HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES  293 

ently  from  the  flies.  The  rats  are  very  apt  to  have 
fleas  and  it  is  by  these  fleas  that  the  germs  are  carried. 
But  the  germs  do  not  travel  on  the  fle'a's  feet,  but 
in  his  stomach. 

In  the  East,  a  dreadful  disease  called  the  "bubonic 
plague,"  is  very  frequent.  If  a  rat-flea  bites  a  person 
who  has  the  plague,  he  sucks  in,  with  the  blood,  the  germ 


A  Rat-flea  (Magnified). 

of  the  disease.  Then,  if  this  same  flea  bites  another 
person,  he  is  likely  to  leave  the  germ  in  the  bitten  place 
and  the  second  person  falls  ill. 

It  is  only  within  recent  years  that  people  have  known 
that  rats  carried  disease  in  this  way,  but  rats  are  filthy 
animals.  They  swim  in  the  sewers  and  walk  through 
all  sorts  of  dirt  and  then  track  it  over  food.  Even  if 
they  did  not  carry  the  plague,  we  should  not  want  them 
around  our  houses. 

And  beside  being  so  dirty  and  disease-carrying,  they 
eat  up  and  ruin  an  enormous  amount  of  grain  and  other 
food,  and  kill  young  chickens  and  suck  birds'  eggs. 
They  destroy  every  year  in  America  as  much  as  $200,000,- 
000  worth  of  property. 


294  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Many  communities  are  trying  to  get  rid  of  rats  and 
mice  and  they  are  doing  it  in  three  ways.  First :  They 
try  to  keep  all  food  in  some  place  where  rats  and  mice 
cannot  reach  it.  Grain-warehouses,  groceries  and  such 
places  should  be  made  rat-proof  by  having  concrete  foun- 
dations, heavy  wire-netting  at  basement  windows,  and, 
in  general,  leaving  no  hole  for  Mr.  Rat  to  enter.  In  old 
buildings,  his  holes  are  stopped  up  with  ground  glass. 
In  these  ways,  by  keeping  them  out  of  the  stores  and 
houses,  and  by  keeping  the  food  in  tin  boxes,  etc.,  we 
can  starve  the  rats  and  mice. 

Second :  Communities  that  are  fighting  rats  and  mice, 
must  not  leave  any  dark  hole  for  them  to  breed  in.  In 
San  Francisco  in  1907,  there  was  a  plague  panic  and  al- 
most six  and  a  half  million  square  feet  of  concrete  were 
laid  to  take  the  place  of  old  board-walks,  stable-floors 
and  such  places,  so  that  the  rats  were  left  no  place  under 
which  to  hide  and  nest. 

Thirdly:  Every  community  should  follow  the  exam- 
ple of  Burlington,  Vermont,  which  some  years  ago  held 
a  rat  contest.  The  rat-fighters  were  divided  into  two 
sides.  Each  side  killed  over  8,000  rats  and  the  side  which 
won  was  given  a  fine  dinner  by  the  other  side. 

Beside  the  fly  and  the  rat-flea,  another  insect  that  is 
a  friend  to  germs  and  hence  an  enemy  to  us  is  the  mos- 
quito. The  name  is  a  Spanish  one  and  means  "little 
fly,"  and  as  you  would  suppose  from  his  having  a  Span- 
ish name,  Mr.  Mosquito  is  found  mostly  in  warm  coun- 
tries settled  by  Spain — such  as  Cuba,  Central  America 
and  South  America,  although  he  is  also  found  clear  up 
into  the  Arctic  regions. 


HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES 


295 


Mosquitoes  can  live  perfectly  well  on  vegetables  and 
fruits  but  they  seem  to  have  a  real  passion  for  the  taste 
of  blood,  and  mosquitoes  whose  parents  and  grandparents 
have  lived  peacefully  on  fruit  will,  if  they  get  a  chance, 
bite  just  as  eagerly  as  if  they  had  been  brought  up  on 
a  meat  diet. 

Like  the  fly,  the  mosquito  for  centuries  was  thought 
an  unpleasant,  but  harmless 
insect.  In  the  warm,  damp  coun- 
tries where  mosquitoes  lived, 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  malaria 
and  yellow  fever,  but  no  one 
dreamed  that  the  mosquitoes  had 
anything  to  do  with  spreading 
these  diseases.  Everyone  thought 
that  yellow  fever  was  caused  by 
dirt,  and  so,  when  our  troops  went 
to  Havana,  Cuba,  in  1898  at  the 
time  of  the  Spanish-American 
war,  we  thought  all  that  was 
needed  was  to  give  the  city  a  thor- 
ough cleaning  to  get  rid  of  the  yellow  fever. 

So  Havana  was  given  such  a  cleaning  as  it  had  never 
had  in  its  life  before,  but  the  fever,  instead  of  disappear- 
ing, grew  worse  and  worse  and  more  and  more  of  our  sol- 
diers sickened  and  died.  Evidently,  they  were  on  the 
wrong  track.  What  was  to  be  done? 

For  almost  twenty  years  before  this  time  a  doctor 
living  in  Havana,  Dr.  Carlos  Finlay,  had  been  trying  to 
prove  that  the  yellow  fever  germ  was  carried  by  mosqui- 
toes, but  his  experiments  had  not  worked  out  well. 


1.  Yellow  Fever  Mosquito. 

2.  Malarial  Mosquito. 


296  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

So  when  the  army  authorities  found  that  all  their 
cleaning  up  was  not  doing  one  bit  of  good,  they  thought 
it  would  do  no  harm  to  look  into  Dr.  Finlay's  idea,  A 
Board  of  four  doctors  named  Reed,  Carroll,  Agramonte 
and  Lazear,  was  appointed  to  find  out  the  truth  concern- 
ing yellow  fever. 

In  June,  1900,  they  got  some  mosquito  eggs  from  Dr. 
Finlay  and  hatched  a  brood  of  young  mosquitoes.  Then 
they  allowed  the  mosquito  to  bite  someone  ill  with  the 
fever  and  then  to  bite  them.  These  experiments  caused 
the  death  of  brave  doctor  Lazear,  who  died  of  yellow 
fever  in  September,  1900,  having  been  bitten  by  an 
infected  mosquito. 

To  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  mosquito  is  really 
guilty  of  carrying  the  fever  germ,  Dr.  Reed  built  a  little 
house  thoroughly  screened  so  that  no  mosquito  could  get 
in  or  out.  He  divided  the  house  by  a  screen  partition 
down  the  center,  making  two  rooms.  Into  each  room  he 
put  a  man.  They  lived  and  slept  here  for  several  days 
and  kept  perfectly  well,  so  it  was  clear  that  there  was 
no  poison  in  the  air  or  the  house.  Then  he  put  into  one 
of  the  rooms  fifteen  mosquitoes  who  were  infected  with 
the  fever.  Of  course,  they  bit  the  man  and  four  days 
later  he  came  down  with  the  fever.  Meanwhile,  the  man 
in  the  other  room,  living  in  the  same  house,  breathing  the 
same  air,  remained  as  well  as  ever.  After  the  mosquitoes 
were  caught  and  taken  away,  this  man  moved  over  into 
the  other  room,  but  never  caught  the  disease. 

This  made  it  pretty  clear  that  the  yellow  fever  was 
carried  by  the  mosquito,  but  some  people  still  thought 
that  perhaps  it  might  be  carried  in  other  ways,  too.  So 


HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES  297 

Dr.  Eeed  built  another  little  bouse  that  had  no  windows 
and  just  barely  enough  air  to  breathe.  Into  this  house 
were  put  bedding  and  clothes  that  had  been  used  in  the 
yellow  fever  hospital.  Then  he  called  for  volunteers  to 
sleep  in  the  room.  An  army  doctor  named  Cook  and  sev- 
eral soldiers  said  they  would  do  it.  So  they  put  on  the 
pajamas  and  slept  in  the  beds  where  the  yellow  fever 
patients  had  died.  For  twenty  nights  they  slept  there, 
but  not  one  of  them  fell  ill,  so  it  was  proved,  once  for  all, 
that  it  is  the  mosquito  and  only  the  mosquito  that  carries 
yellow  fever. 

The  next  thing  was  to  get  rid  of  the  mosquitoes.  Now, 
as  you  probably  .know,  the  mosquito  lays  her  eggs  in  water 
and  the  baby  mosquitoes,  or  "wigglers,"  have  to  come  to 
the  top  to  breathe.  So  the  city  of  Havana  was  divided 
into  eight  districts  and  into  each  district  went  an  in- 
spector. He  visited  every  house,  explaining  that  no  water 
must  be  left  standing  uncovered  in  rain-barrels,  flower- 
pots, roof-gutters,  or  other  places.  The  water-barrels 
were  covered  with  wire  netting  and  provided  with  a  fau- 
cet, so  that  the  mosquitoes  could  not  get  into  them.  It 
meant  a  good  deal  of  work  for  the  Havana  houskeepers, 
but  they  all  knew  and  dreaded  the  fever  and  were  glad  to 
help  in  overcoming  it.  Old  bottles  and  cans  that  might 
hold  water  were  picked  up  and  every  little  puddle  was 
covered  with  a  thin  film  of  kerosene  oil,  so  as  to  kill  any 
"wigglers."  Out  in  the  country,  the  marshes  were 
drained  or  oiled. 

And  what  was  the  result?  Yellow  fever  had  been  in 
Havana  for  one  hundred  and  forty  years  without  a  break 
and  for  two  hundred  years  before  that  there  had  been 


298 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


outbreaks  of  the  fever  from  time  to  time.  In  February, 
1901,  the  Sanitary  Department  of  Havana  set  out  to  end 
the  mosquitoes.  In  September  of  the  same  year,  the  last 
case  of  yellow  fever  in  Havana  occurred. 

The  campaign  against  the  yellow  fever  mosquitoes  also 
killed  off  another  mosquito  which  carries  the  malaria. 

Before  the  year  1901,  from  three  hundred  to  five  hun- 


New  Jersey  Marsh  before  Draining. 


dred  people  died  of  malaria  every  year  in  Havana.  Since 
then  the  disease  has  grown  scarcer  and  scarcer  until  now 
a  case  of  malaria  is  very  rare. 

This  experience  in  Cuba  taught  the  doctors  so  much 
that  in  1904  they  were  eager  to  help  our  Government  by 
ridding  the  Panama  Zone  of  yellow  fever  and  malaria. 
In  Panama  they  did  as  they  had  done  in  Cuba,  draining 


HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES  299 

and  oiling  swamps,  doing  away  with  standing  water  in 
houses,  and  burning  powder  to  kill  off  all  the  mosquitoes 
in  any  house  where  the  disease  had  been. 

As  a  result,  out  of  a  force  of  39,000  men  who  helped  to 
build  the  canal,  there  died  each  year  only  663.  Before 
the  United  States  undertook  to  build  the  Canal,  the  French 
had  tried,  but  that  was  before  they  had  learned  about  the 


New  Jersey  Marsh  after  Draining. 

mosquitoes,  and  while  the  Americans  lost  only  seven- 
teen men  per  year  out  of  each  thousand  workmen,  the 
French  lost  200  out  of  each  thousand,  so  that  they  gave 
up  in  despair. 

I  have  told  you  this  long  story,  not  because  you  are 
likely  to  live  in  the  tropics,  but  partly  so  that  you  may  help 
in  fighting  mosquitoes  in  your  own  neighborhood.  Partly, 
too.  I  tell  it  so  that  you  may  realize  how  many  brave  men 


300  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

and  women  are  fighting  night  and  day — giving  up  their 
lives,  if  need  be — so  that  you  and  I  may  be  safe  from 
disease.  I  think  that  the  least  we  can  do  in  return  is  to 
help  the  fight  by  taking  good  care  of  our  own  health, 
obeying  the  rules  of  the  Board  of  Health,  and  being  as 
Good  Neighbors  as  we  know  how  to  be. 

HOUSEHOLD  ENEMIES 

Why  are  flies  considered  more  dangerous  to  civilized  people  than  lions, 
or  poisonous  snakes? 

What  is  the  most  effective  way  to  make  a  neighborhood  flyless?  How 
would  you  go  about  doing  this  ?  Why  is  a  clean-up  campaign  helpful  ?  Why 
are  fly-traps  helpful?  Make  a  fly-trap  yourself  and  use  it  where  there 
are  many  flies. 

Why  is  spring  the  most  important  season  for  starting  a  fly  campaign? 

Why  must  we  destroy  rats  as  a  health  measure  ?  Why  destroy  them  as 
an  economy  measure? 

Describe  three  ways  to  destroy  rats.  Which  one  of  these  could  you 
try?  Get  a  group  of  your  classmates  together,  and  make  plans  for  the  kind 
of  anti-rat  campaign  you  think  you  could  carry  out.  Start  it  Then 
send  a  description  of  your  plan  to  some  other  school  in  your  town  and 
a  challenge.  To  rid  your  town  of  rats  and  mice  will  be  a  piece  of  true 
good  neighborliness. 

Has  it  always  been  known  that  mosquitoes  carried  disease? 

What  made  people  in  Havana  first  suspect  that  mosquitoes  carry 
yellow  fever? 

Can  you  tell  the  story  of  Doctor  Lazear?  What  good  did  his  sacrifice 
do?  How  did  Doctor  Reed  prove  that  mosquitoes  carried  yellow  fever, 
and  were  alone,  the  cause  of  its  spread? 

How  was  Havana  rid  of  mosquitoes? 

What  good  did  this  clean-up  do  Havana? 

How  did  the  results  of  the  mosquito  campaign  in  Havana  help  to  build 
the  Panama  Canal?  Compare  the  French  and  American  losses  of  workmen, 
during  the  efforts  to  build  the  Canal. 

What  other  sickness  is  caused  by  mosquitoes  besides  yellow  fever? 

Now  you  know  these  facts  about  mosquitoes,  what  will  you  do  about  it, 
as  a  good  neighbor  ? 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TUBERCULOSIS 

THE  children  in  this  picture  do  not  look  like  invalids, 
do  they?  Most  of  us  who  consider  ourselves  perfectly 
well,  would  say  that  "we  never  could  stand"  going  about 
almost  without  clothes  as  these  husky  little  fellows  are 


doing,  among  the  snow  and  ice.  And  yet  these  boys  are 
patients  in  an  institution  for  tuberculous  children.  All 
day  they  play,  with  next  to  nothing  on,  in  the  fresh  air 
and  sunshine.  They  sleep  outdoors  at  night  even  when 
the  mercury  in  the  thermometer  drops  out  of  sight.  They 
get  lots  of  sleep  and  plenty  of  milk  and  eggs,  green  vege- 
tables and  other  good  food.  They  are  taught  how  to 

301 


302  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

live  healthful  lives  and  when  they  go  home  cured  they 
can  tell  you  just  what  to  do;  to  avoid  tuberculosis  and 
what  to  do  if  you  should  catch  it. 

All  this  is  very  different  from  the  way  that  tubercu- 
losis used  to  be  treated.  In  our  grandmothers '  day,  if  a  lit- 
tle girl  fell  ill  with  tuberculosis  the  neighbors  would  say, 
"Poor  child!  Her  father's  people  had  the  disease  and 
so  she  was  born  with  it.  Perhaps  she  will  get  well  if  they 
are  very  careful  to  keep  her  indoors  so  she  won't  catch 
cold,  and  if  they  always  close  the  windows  at  night,  so 
she  won't  breathe  the  night  air." 

But,  nowadays,  we  know  better  than  this.  We  know 
that  air  and  sunshine,  rest  and  good  food  are  the  four 
best  doctors  in  the  world  for  tuberculosis.  That  .is  why 
the  happy  boys  at  the  Perrysburg  Sanatorium  are  out 
playing  in  the  snow  instead  of  being  cooped  up  in 
stuffy  bedrooms. 

It  is  not  a  good  thing  for  children,  or  for  grownups 
either,  to  keep  thinking  about  disease,  but  anyone  who 
wants  to  be  a  good  neighbor  must  kndw  how  to  avoid 
catching  disease  and  how  to  avoid  giving  it  to  others. 
Besides,  tuberculosis  is  a  very  terrible  disease.  Every 
year  in  our  country  160,000  people  die  of  it.  If  that 
many  people  were  killed  in  a  great  battle,  how  horrified 
we  should  be,  but  we  are  so  used  to  tuberculosis  that  we 
forget  to  be  horrified  at  it  or  to  work  against  it. 

Another  good  reason  why  children  especially  should 
enlist  in  the  war  on  tuberculosis  is  that  it,  perhaps  more 
than  almost  any  other  disease,  depends  for  its  cure  not 
on  the  doctor,  but  on  yourself.  There  is  no  medicine  to 
cure  tuberculosis.  The  way  to  avoid  it  and  the  way  to 
cure  it  are  the  same — by  wise  living. 


TUBERCULOSIS  303 

Like  yellow  fever,  small-pox,  measles  and  the  other 
infectious,  or  "catching"  diseases,  tuberculosis  is 
caused  by  a  tiny  seed  or  germ.  Under  a  microscope  the 
germ  looks  like  a  tiny  rod.  If  these  tiny  rods  are 
breathed  into  the  lungs,  they  cause  little  lumps  and  the 
lungs,  instead  of  being  made  of  healthy  tissue,  are  grad- 
ually filled  with  these  sore  spots,  so  that  the  sick  person 
cannot  breathe  properly,  but  coughs  and  >  suffers.  We 
are  really  more  dependent  on  our  lungs  than  on  almost 
any  other  part  of  our  bodies.  We  can  go  without  water 
for  some  days  and  without  food  for  weeks,  even,  but 
we  cannot  stop  breathing  for  more  than  a  few  moments. 

Tuberculosis  gets  its  name  from  these  little  lumps 
that  form  in  the  body.  You  probably  have  heard  pota- 
toes, beets,  turnips,  and  such  vegetables  called  "tubers," 
which  means  that  they  are  swollen  lumps  on  the  root 
of  the  plant,  for  the  Latin  word  "tuber"  means  a  swel- 
ling. So  the  word  "tuberculum"  means  a  little  swelling, 
and  tuberculosis  is  the  disease  which  causes  these  little, 
sore  swellings  or  lumps  in  our  bodies. 

The  tuberculosis  germs  also  cause  swellings  in  the 
glands  of  the  neck,  and  sometimes  they  attack  the  bones, 
especially  in  children. 

But  the  main  thing  for  us  to  know  is  how  to  fight 
tuberculosis.  To  know  this,  we  must  know  how  the  germ 
is  carried  from  one  person  to  another. 

Anyone  who  has  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs — "consump- 
tion," as  we  used  to  call  it — is  constantly  coughing  up 
the  germs.  You  know  that  when  we  cough  or  sneeze,  we 
send  a  shower  of  fine  drops  into  the  air.  Now,  if  the 
consumptive  is  careless,  and  does  not  cover  his  mouth, 
these  germs,  in  the  tiny  drops  from  his  lungs,  fly  into 


304  A  CITY  OP  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

the  air  and  are  likely  to  be  breathed  into  the  lungs  of 
anyone  who  is  near. 

Another  and  even  more  usual  way  for  the  germs  to  be 
spread  is  by  the  impolite,  dirty  and  dangerous  habit  of 
spitting  on  sidewalks,  and  other  public  places.  Of 
course^  as  you  know,  sunshine  kills  many  germs  outdoors, 
but  often  the  sputum,  or  spit,  dries  and  the  germs  are 
blown  into  the  air  before  the  sunlight  has  time  to  kill 
them.  Often,  too,  peoples '  shoe-soles  pick  up  the  germs 
and  track  them  into  our  houses. 

We  can't  very  well  make  a  rule  that  no  one  with  tuber- 
culosis shall  spit  in  public  places,  for  many  people  have 
the.  disease  without  realizing  it.  The  only  safe  rule  is 
not  to  let  anyone  spit  in  public,  so  almost  all  city  Boards 
of  Health  have  made  this  rule.  As  good  citizens  and 
good  neighbors,  let  us  promise  ourselves  nev er  to  spit  in 
any  public  place.  If  everybody  would  make  and  keep 
this  one  promise,  tuberculosis  would  soon  be  almost 
stamped  out. 

The  next  thing  to  do  is  to  breathe  all  the  clean,  sun- 
shiny air  that  you  can.  During  the  day,  we  ought  to 
work  in  airy  school-rooms  or,  better  still,  in  regular, 
open-air  schools.  During  the  night,  we  should  have  our 
windows  wide  open,  or,  if  we  possibly  can,  sleep  outdoors 
on  a  balcony.  There  is  nothing  like  plenty  of  pure  air 
to  make  the  lungs  and  the  whole  body  strong  so  that  we 
can  laugh  at  tuberculosis  and  all  other  germs. 

Another  way  in  which  many  children  are  weakened 
and  so  made  more  liable  to  tuberculosis  is  that  they  do 
not  take  proper  care  of  their  teeth.  Tuberculosis  germs 
may  find  a  breeding  place  in  the  decayed  tooth.  The 


TUBERCULOSIS  305 

word  " rotten''  is  not  a  pretty  or  pleasant  one,  but  it 
exactly  describes  the  holes  in  a  neglected  tooth.  The 
hole  is  full  of  rotten  matter  in  which  tuberculosis  and  other 
germs  find  food  and  can  multiply.  Don't  let  your  mouth 
be  such  a  disgusting  place.  Brush  your  teeth  at  least 
in  the  morning  and  at  night — after  each  meal,  if  possible 
— so  that  no  germs  of  disease  can  set  up  housekeep- 
ing there. 

Another  way  in  which  we  should  all  help  to  fight 
tuberculosis  is  by  wiping  out  our  old  enemy,  the  fly.  He 
loves  to  walk  over  spittoons  and  then  take  a  jaunt  on  the 
supper  table,  leaving  the  germs  from  his  feet  on  our 
food.  Every  good  neighbor  should  fight  him  tooth 
and  nail. 

As  I  have  said,  there  are  two  ways  of  guarding  against 
infectious  diseases.  One  way  is  keep  away  from  other 
people's  germs  and  to  keep  your  germs  away  from  others 
— that  is  the  reason  for  the  quarantine  laws,  the  anti- 
spitting  laws,  the  laws  against  public  drinking-cups, 
public  towels,  etc.  That  is  the  reason  why  each  one  of  us 
should  learn  not  to  put  his  fingers  into  his  mouth  or 
nostrils,  not  to  "swap"  candy  or  gum,  not  to  suck  his 
pencil  or  pen,  or  hold  money  in  his  mouth.  All  these  are 
ways  of  avoiding  germs. 

But  there  is  a  second,  and  perhaps  equally  important 
way  for  each  one  of  us,  as  an  individual,  to  keep  himself 
free  from  infectious  disease  and  that  is  to  live  so  sensi- 
bly, to  take  such  good  care  of  his  body  that  it  will  be 
strong  and  able  to  fight  against  any  germ  that  happens 
along.  I  know  a  little  girl  who  is  always  "catching 

something."     And  the  reason  is  that  she  eats  all  sorts 
20 


306 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


of  foolish  things  between  meals,  drinks  coffee  instead  of 
milk,  sleeps  in  a  stuffy  room  with  two  other  people,  for- 
gets to  brush  her  teeth  and  would  rather  sit  curled  up 
over  the  red-hot  stove  reading  a  story  and  munching 


A  Modern  Health  Crusade  Pageant. 

candy  than  go  skating  with  the  other  girls.  The  re- 
sult is  that  every  germ  that  comes  her  way  says, ' '  Hurrah, 
here  is  just  the  home  I've  been  looking  for !"  and  settles 
down  with  her  for  a  good,  long  visit.  So  Elizabeth  keeps, 
as  you  might  say,  a  hotel  for  germs  and  passes  them  on 
to  all  her  schoolmates. 


TUBERCULOSIS  307 

I  wish  that  Elizabeth  and  every  other  boy  and  girl 
in  America  would  join  the  grand  army  of  those  who  are 
fighting  this  disease  of  tuberculosis.  I  wish  every  man 
and  woman  would  join  the  National  Tuberculosis  Assoc- 
iation and  that  every  school  child  would  join  the  Modern 
Health  Crusaders. 

During  the  war,  many  of  you  school  boys — yes  and 
girls  too — envied  your  older  brothers  and  sisters  who 
were  going  as  soldiers  and  nurses  to  fight  the  enemy  of 
liberty  and  of  America,  Here  is  a  chance  to  fight  an 
enemy  that  has  killed  more  Americans  than  were  ever 
slain  on  the  battlefield — an  enemy  that  is  right  in  our 
midst  and  that  every  one  of  us  must  help  to  kill.  And 
it  is  the  children  of  today,  the  school  boys  and  girls,  who 
can  do  the  most  in  this  war.  If  the  school  children  of  today 
would  learn  how  to  live  healthy  lives,  in  another  gener- 
ation tuberculosis  would  be  almost  unknown. 

If  you  want  to  enlist  in  this  fight,  write  to  New  York 
to  the  National  Tuberculosis  Association  and  they  will 
tell  you  just  how  to  bcome  a  Modern  Health  Crusader, 
which  means  how  to  be  healthy  yourself  and  how  to  be 
a  good  neighbor  by  fighting  for  your  neighbor's 
health,  also. 

TUBERCULOSIS 

By  what  four  remedies  are  the  children  on  page  301  making  themselves 
strong  and  well?  Have  people  always  tried  to  get  well  this  way?  Which 
way  is  better? 

Why  are  we  reading  a  chapter  on  tuberculosis? 

How  is  tuberculosis  carried? 

Have  you  an  anti-spitting  ordinance  in  your  town?  Is  it  kept?  Why 
should  you  have  such  a  law?  What  could  you  do  to  have  the  law  kept 
better  than  it  is? 

How  much  time  do  you  spend  out-doors  daily,  or  with  windows  open, 


308  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

in-doors?     Could  you  do  better?     Why  is  this  an  important  thing  to  do? 

When  do  you  brush  your  teeth?  How  clean  are  they?  How  many 
decayed  teeth  have  you?  What  can  you  do  to  improve  your  teeth  this 
month?  Why  are  these  important  questions  to  answer  correctly? 

Why  should  we  swat-the-fly  when  we  are  trying  to  wipe  out  tuberculosis  ? 

State  the  two  ways  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  to  guard  against  infection. 
What  laws  do  you  know  that  help  prevent  the  spread  of  infectious  or 
contagious  diseases? 

Why  do  some  people  "catch"  everything,  while  others  seem  to  stay 
well?  Read  about  the  Modern  Health  Crusade  once  more  and  see  why 
joining  it  will  help  you  to  stay  well 

What  are  the  most  important  ways  to  fight,  not  only  tuberculosis,  but 
all  diseases? 


CHAPTER  XV 

SEWAGE 

As  you  study  history,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
things  is  to  see  how  much  people  are  alike  all  over  the 
world  and  in  all  ages.  People  today  seem  to  be,  here  in 
America,  very  much  what  they  were  thousands  of  years 
ago,  in  Europe. 

Last  summer,  I  was  walking  with  a  friend  through  a 
lovely  ravine.  At  our  feet  ran  a  brook  that  made  me 
think  of  Stevenson's  poem — 

"Dark  brown  is  the  river, 

Golden  is  the  sand." 

Overhead,  the  sunlight  sifted  through  the  green  roof  in 
a  gold  and  green  pattern.  We  felt  that  we  were  in 
fairyland  and  planned  to  bring  our  luncheon  and  have 
a  picnic — but  suddenly  we  both  stopped  and  cried,  "Oh 
what  a  dreadful  shame ! ' ' 

There  in  front  of  us,  almost  choking  the  brook  and 
crowding  out  the  ferns,  lay  a  mass  of  tin  cans,  boxes, 
broken  bottles,  bed-springs,  garbage  and  all  sorts 
of  rubbish. 

We  looked  up  the  bank  of  the  ravine  and  there,  perched 
on  the  edge  above  us,  was  a  tiny  shanty.  My  friend  is 
always  energetic  and  never  afraid  to  say  what  she  thinks. 
"It's  a  disgrace,"  she  exclaimed.  "Come  on!  I'm  go- 
ing right  up  there  and  tell  that  family  that  they  ought 
to  be  ashamed  of  themselves  to  ruin  this  lovely  place  by 
dumping  all  their  old  refuse  down  here." 

309 


310  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

As  she  spoke,  she  was  scrambling  up  toward  the 
shanty.  I  followed  her  and  we  went  together  to  the  front 
door.  Our  knock  sounded  hollow,  as  if  the  house  were 
empty.  We  knocked  again,  then  went  around  and  peeped 
in  at  the  dirty  window.  Sure  enough,  the  hut  was  empty, 
save  for  some  dirty  rags,  papers  and  one  broken  chair 
that  the  family  had  left  behind. 

"I  suppose,"  said  my  friend,  as  we  half  slid,  half 
walked  back  down  the  ravine,  "that  family  has  moved 
on  to  some  other  lovely  place  and  will  ruin  it,  just  as 
they  have  ruined  our  ravine.  I'd  hate  to  feel  that  I 
was  like  a  bad  fairy  and  left  a  curse  behind  me  wher- 
ever I  went." 

I  could  not  help  agreeing  with  my  friend.  There  are 
so  many  people  who  when  they  picnic  in  a  beautiful 
grove  or  park,  leave  it  littered  with  papers,  banana  skins 
and  all  sorts  of  rubbish,  so  that  the  next  people  who 
come  there  find  not  loveliness  but  ugly  sights  and  smells. 
It  is  as  my  friend  said — they  almost  seem  to  leave  a 
curse  behind  them. 

But,  as  I  remarked  before,  people  are  the  same  the 
world  over  and  ignorant  people  have  always  been  care- 
less of  other  people's  rights.  More  than  2000  years  ago,  in 
ancient  Rome,  a  short  distance  outside  the  city  walls, 
there  was  set  a  line  of  stones.  No  one  was  allowed  to  dump 
rubbish  any  nearer  to  the  city  than  these  stones.  But 
the  Romans  were  lazy  and  careless,  just  like  the  people 
who  spoiled  our  ravine.  When  the  ruins  of  Rome  were 
being  dug  up,  this  line  of  stones  was  uncovered,  with  a 
police  notice  cut  in  it  saying  that  the  rubbish  must  not 
be  dumped  inside  the  line.  But  evidently  the  Roman 


SEWAGE  311 

housekeepers  had  not  obeyed  the  rule,  for  under  the 
police  notice,  someone  had  scribbled,  in  Latin  of  course, 
"Do  carry  the  dirt  a  little  farther;  otherwise  you  will 
be  fined."  And  so  immense  was  the  pile  of  decayed 
rubbish  that  even  after  2000  years,  we  read  that  the  men 
who  dug  up  the  ruins  were  almost  overcome  by  the  smell. 
One  of  the  greatest  problems  in  a  city  of  any  size  is 


Paris  Sewer. 

how  to  get  rid  of  the  waste  from  the  houses,  the  garbage, 
ashes  and  rubbish.  In  olden  times,  before  there  was  run- 
ning water  in  the  houses,  it  was  a  common  thing  for  dirty 
water  and  all  sorts  of  refuse  to  be  thrown  from  the  win- 
dows into  the  street  below.  In  Rome,  a  law  was  passed 
that  anyone  who  injured  a  passerby  in  this  way  must  pay 
him  a  sum  of  money — "damages"  as  it  is  called.  But 
no  damages  were  paid  if  merely  the  clothing  was  ruined, 
or,  strangely  enough,  if  the  accident  occurred  at  night. 
Fancy  how  pleasant  it  must  have  been  to  take  a  moon- 
light stroll  in  Eome ! 


312  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

The  first  sewers  were  merely  brooks  or  other  water- 
courses into  which  the  villages  dumped  their  waste.  Na- 
turally, such  streams,  as  the  villages  became  larger,  grew 
to  be  smelly  and  unpleasant  to  look  at,  so  they  were 
roofed  over.  Then  actual  sewers  were  built  of  stone. 
In  ancient  Jerusalem,  explorers  have  found  the  remains 
of  many  drains  used  to  carry  away  the  blood  and  refuse 
from  the  temple  where  animals  were  slaughtered  on 
the  altar. 

The  most  famous  sewer  ever  built  is  the  great  Cloaca. 
Maxima  (Biggest  Sewer),  of  Rome.  It  has  been  in  use 
ever  since  it  was  first  built,  more  than  2400  years  ago, 
and  shows  no  signs  of  .giving  out.  It  is  made  of  stones 
neatly  fitted  together  without  any  cement  and  is  twelve 
feet  high.  In  the  days  of  the  wicked  Emporer  Nero,  many 
a  murder  occurred  at  the  drunken  feasts,  and  the  body 
was  thrown  into  the  Cloaca  Maxima  to  float  away  into  the 
river  Tiber. 

In  early  times  in  this  country,  we  had  no  system  of 
sewers.  Even  many  large  cities  as  recently  as  forty 
years  ago,  had  no  proper  system  for  carrying  away 
house  waste.  But  in  1879,  something  happened  that 
opened  the  eyes  of  people.  The  city  of  Memphis, 
Tennessee,  had  never  been  a  very  healthful  place,  but  in 
1879  a  terrible  outbreak  of  yellow  fever  occurred,  and  over 
five  thousand  people  died.  Of  course,  everyone  was  a- 
f  raid  to  stay  in  Memphis  and  started  to  pack  up  and  hurry 
away  to  escape  the  fever,  for  this  was  twenty  years  before 
Dr.  Reed  and  his  helpers  began  their  experiments  in 
Havana  and  no  one  knew  what  caused  the  fever. 

But  the  people  in  the  neighboring  states  did  not  want 


SEWAGE  313 

to  catch  the  fever,  either,  and  they  stationed  guards  with 
shotguns  on  the  border  line  between  them  and  Tennessee, 
to  keep  the  refugees  out. 

The  country  was  so  stirred  up  by  this  that  a  National 
Board  of  Health  was  founded  and  a  committee  appointed 
to  find  out  what  was  wrong  in  Memphis.  Now,  as  you 
know,  the  mosquito  that  carries  yellow  fever  breeds  in 
damp  places,  and  the  city  of  Memphis  was  fairly  honey- 
combed with  cesspools  and  vaults,  many  of  them  under 
houses  or  in  cellars,  for  there  was  no  system  of  drains 
so  that  the  waste  water  from  each  house  could  be  carried 
into  the  central  sewer.  The  result  was  that  the  ground 
was  soaked  with  filth. 

The  first  thing  that  the  committee  did  was  to  give  the 
city  a  grand  clean-up  and  the  next  was  to  do  away  with 
the  cesspools  and  to  build  a  proper  sewer  system  so  that 
the  sewage  was  all  carried  away  from  the  city.  The  epi- 
demic soon  died  out  and  other  cities,  seeing  how  much 
more  healthful  Memphis  had  become,  followed  her  exam- 
ple and  built  sewers  for  themselves.  Nowadays,  all  the 
large  cities  have  water  in  all  houses,  and  drains  by  which 
the  house  waste  can  be  carried  into  the  street  sewer  and 
so  away  to  a  safe  place. 

But  what  is  a  "safe  place?"  That  depends  on  the 
location  of  the  city  and  on  the  number  of  its  inhabitants. 
Where  a  city  is  situated  on  or  near  the  ocean,  the  sewage 
can  be  discharged  into  the  water,  but  the  sewer  should 
discharge  below  the  point  of  low  tide,  otherwise,  as  the 
tide  comes  in,  the  sewage  will  be  carried  back  to  shore. 
Great  care  must  be  taken,  too,  that  the  sewage  is  not 


314  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

poured  out  where  it  can  be  carried  to  bathing  beaches, 
or  where  oysters  can  be  infected  with  it. 

If  the  sewage  is  emptied  into  a  lake,  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  carry  the  pipe  a  long  distance  out  from  shore,  so 
that  the  sewage  shall  not  be  carried  back  to  the  shore. 
In  rivers,  too,  no  city  has  a  right  to  dump  sewage  if  there 
are  other  towns  just  below  who  use  the  river  water  for 
bathing  or  drinking. 

Most  large  cities  are  built  near  a,  river  or  ocean  be- 
cause in  early  days,  water  was  the  quickest  and  easiest 
route  from  place  to  place.  So  it  happens  that  London, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Chicago,  Toronto  and 
many  other  cities  empty  their  sewage  into  the  water. 
There  the  disease  germs  contained  in  the  sewage  soon  die 
for  lack  of  food  and  through  exposure  to  the  sunlight. 

But  how  about  cities  that  are  not  situated  near  a 
large  body  of  water?  What  is  to  be  done  with 
their  sewage! 

I  suppose  you  have  often,  in  the  country,  seen  a  care- 
less housekeeper  throw  a  pan  full  of  dish-water  on  the 
ground.  If  she  does  not  always  throw  it  in  the  same  place 
so  that  the  ground  becomes  soggy,  or  if  it  is  naturally  a 
sandy  soil,  so  that  the  water  quickly  sinks  through  it,  this 
does  no  harm.  But  if  the  water  stands  in  a,  pool  on  top 
of  the  earth,  the  soil  soon  turns  sour  and  smelly. 

You  remember  that  in  talking  about  water,  we  spoke 
of  how  it  is  purified  by  filtering  through  the  soil  and  how 
the  seeds  of  disease  are  eaten  up  by  the  germs  in  the  soil. 
Exactly  this  same  thing  happens  with  city  sewage  in  a 
sewage  filter.  Great  beds  of  sand,  sometimes  several 
acres  of  it,  are  made  with  coarser  gravel  or  drains  at  the 


SEWAGE  315 

bottom,  and  onto  this  sand  the  sewage  is  poured.  It 
comes  out  at  the  bottom  perfectly  clear,  odorless  and 
clean.  It  is  quite  safe  to  drink  it,  though  somehow  the 
idea  is  not  very  pleasant. 

Of  course,  in  the  country,  where  there  is  no  big  general 


rManhole  frame  and 'cater 


a  a  a  a   o  a/ 
|  a  a  |  an  |  an  \ 


De+aita  of  Hollow  Brick 

Two  cesspools  —  one  made  of  loose  stone,  the  lower  one  of  hollow  brick  or  tiles;  both  allow 
"leaching"  of  the  contents  through  the  side  walls  and  through  the  earth  bottom.  The  extension  on 
the  right  of  the  lower  one  is  made  of  tile.  Cesspools  that  overflow  have  been  made  satisfactory  by 
such  tile  extensions. 

sewer  for  each  house  drain  to  empty  into,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  have  such  a  great  filter  bed.  In  that  case,  the 
best  way  is  for  the  house  drain  to  empty  into  a  septic  tank. 
"Septic"  means  "causing  decay"  and  in  such  a  tank,  the 
sewage  actually  decays.  That  is,  everything  but  the  min- 


S16  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

eral  in  it  is  eaten  up  by  certain  germs  or  bacteria  and  the 
liquid  that  is  left  is  harmless  and  trickles  away  into  the 
earth  to  rejoin  the  "ground  water. " 

We  sometimes  speak  of  "Mother  Earth"  and  I  like 
to  think  of  the  earth  in  that  way.  She  is  like  a  great, 
kind  mother  who  takes  everything  that  might  harm  or 
annoy  us  and  sets  her  tiny  servants,  the  bacteria,  to  work 
so  that  it  becomes  harmless  or  even  helpful.  She  can  take 
the  sewage  from  a  great  city  and  turn  it  into  sparkling 
water  to  feed  the  underground  springs  and  to  nourish 
the  trees  and  plants.  All  she  asks  is  that  we  do  our  part 
and  work  hand  in  hand  with  her. 

SEWAGE 

What  can  you  do  to  prevent  the  beautiful  places  near  your  home  being 
spoiled  by  rubbish? 

How  long  does  history  teach  us,  that  men  have  tried  to  keep  their  cities 
free  from,  garbage?  What  was  the  Roman  law  about  garbage  disposal? 
Tell  what  you  think  of  how  people  in  the  old  days  got  rid  of  their 
house  wastes. 

How  did  sewers  come  to  be  made? 

What  facts  can  you  tell  about  the  greatest  Roman  sewer — about  its 
age,  how  it  was  built,  its  strange  history? 

Show  by  the  history  of  the  Memphis  yellow  fever  epidemic,  how  this 
calamity  led  to  a  National  Board  of  Health.  How  was  Memphis  made  a 
healthful  city?  What  effect  did  this  work  in  Memphis  have  on  the  water 
supplies  of  other  large  cities? 

When  is  it  safe,  and  when  is  it  not  safe,  to  dump  sewage  in  the  ocean? 

What  can  be  done  to  make  it  safe  to  dump  sewage  into  lakes? 
Into  rivers? 

Try  to  explain  how  sewage  may  be  purified  and  safely  disposed  of  in 
cities  that  have  no  bodies  of  water  near  by. 

In  which  of  the  locations  described  in  the  last  three  questions  do  you  live? 
Give  reasons  why  you  think  the  sewage  of  your  town  is  well  or  badly 
disposed  of. 

Show  by  a  picture,  how  a  septic  tank  is  made.  Now  explain  how  useful 
bacteria  helps  it  work?  Where  should  such  septic  tanks  be  used? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

REFUSE 

THE  disposal  of  the  sewage  from  the  sinks,  bathrooms 
and  kitchens  of  a  city  is  easier  than  the  question  of  what 
to  do  with  the  garbage,  ashes,  tin  cans,  old  bottles  and 
other  rubbish. 

As  I  said,  in  Rome  it  was  the  custom  for  each  house 
to  dump  its  rubbish  a,t  a  certain  distance  from  the  city 
wall,  and  in  many  country  places  in  America  each  family 
still  sees  to  its  own  rubbish,  feeding  the  garbage  to  the 
pigs  or  chickens,  or  perhaps  burying  it,  and  dumping  the 
ashes  and  other  refuse  in  some  out  of  the  way  spot.  Some- 
times the  ashes  are  used  for  making  paths  and  for  filling 
in  hollows  and  swamps.  Too  often,  however,  rubbish  is 
just  dumped  anywhere  and  becomes  an  eyesore.  There 
is  no  need  of  this,  for  with  a  little  thought  rubbish  can 
be  properly  cared  for.  If  the  garbage  is  buried,  it  must  be 
covered  deeply  enough  not  to  attract  flies  or  cats  and  dogs. 
Often  a  better  way  is  to  dry  the  garbage  in  a  wire  basket 
fitted  into  the  fire  place  or  stove  pipe  or  even  in  the  oven 
— then  it  can  be  burned. 

Papers,  unless  they  are  sold  to  a  dealer,  can  be  burned. 
Every  family  that  has  to  dispose  of  its  own  refuse  should 
have  a  large  wire  basket  in  which  rags,  papers,  partly 
dried  garbage,  etc.,  can  be  burned  outdoors.  Ashes,  un- 
less used  for  paths  or  filling  in,  and  other  rubbish  should 
be  hauled  to  some  suitable  place  and  covered  with  a  thin 
layer  of  earth. 

317 


318 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


As  the  country  road  grows  into  a  village  street  and 
the  village  street  into  a  city  thoroughfare,  the  problem 
of  keeping  it  clean  and  attractive  becomes  still  more  diffi- 
cult and  important.  In  the  city,  the  streets  are  in  con- 
stant use  by  thousands  of  people.  The  streets  are  not 
merely  used  to  get  from  one  place  to  another,  as  they  are 
in  the  country.  They  form  the  meeting-place  and  play- 


ground, the  center  for  transacting  business,  talking  poli- 
tics and  paying  visits,  the  evening  promenade  for  the 
young  people  and  playground  for  the  children.  It  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  streets  should  not  be  lit- 
tered with  garbage,  dirt  and  refuse,  so  that  we  may  not 
carry  street  dirt  into  our  houses  on  our  clothing  and  shoes, 
so  that  food  carried  through  the  street  may  not  be  covered 
with  dust,  and'  so  that  we  may  enjoy  playing,  walking,  or 
even  eating  on  the  sidewalks,  as  they  do  abroad. 

Many  cities  do,  in  a  wholesale  style,  what  country 
families  do  in  a  small  way — they  get  rid  of  their  refuse 


REFUSE 


319 


by  dumping  it.  Sometimes,  if  the  city  is  situated  on  the 
shore,  the  refuse  is  loaded  onto  scows  and  carried  out  to 
sea,  where  it  is  dumped.  This  is  satisfactory  if  the  load 
is  not  dumped  too  soon.  Many  a  beautiful  bathing  beach 
is  made  ugly  and  unpleasant  by  floating  bits  of  garbage 
and  refuse  carried  in  by  the  tide.  Some  beaches  near 
Xew  York  have  been  almost  ruined  in  this  way. 


Inland  cities  often  fill  in  land  that  is  marshy,  or  has 
been  quarried  out,  by  dumping  on  it  the  mixed  garbage 
and  rubbish  or  the  rubbish  alone.  These  dumps,  how- 
ever, are  very  ugly  to  look  at,  often  smell  very  unpleas- 
ant and  frequently  form  a  fine  breeding  place  for  flies. 
Dumping  refuse,  either  in  the  ocean  or  on  land,  is  a  very 
poor  way  of  getting  rid  of  it. 

There  are  really  only  two  good  ways  of  disposing  of 


320  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

garbage  and  rubbish  in  cities.  One  is  to  burn  them.  In 
some  cities  the  garbage  is  not  kept  separate  from  the 
ashes  and  refuse  and  so,  being  mixed  with  ashes,  paper, 
etc.,  will  burn  very  well.  These  cities  can  burn  all  their 
refuse  in  a  great  central  building  and  by  means  of  this 
fire,  steam  or  electricity  can  be  formed  and  sold,  so  that 
the  refuse  itself  helps  to  pay  for  the  expense  of  carting 
and  collecting.  In  the  city  of  Minneapolis,  the  burning 
of  the  refuse  provides  steam  to  heat  the  hospital  and 
workhouse  buildings,  and  electricity  to  light  thirty-one 
miles  of  streets.  In  Savannah,  Georgia,  the  city  used  to 
pay  about  eighty  dollars  a  day  for  running  its  pumping 
station  at  the  water-works.  Since  it  has  burned  its  re- 
fuse, the  steam  runs  the  pumping  station  and  it  costs 
only  about  forty-six  dollars  a  day  to  burn  the  refuse 
and  run  the  pumps — a  clear  saving  of  more  than  $12,000 
a  year.  And  in  addition,  the.  city  has  all  its  refuse  des- 
troyed, free  of  cost. 

In  many  cities,  the  garbage,  ashes,  and  other  refuse 
must  be  kept  separate.  As  wet  garbage  unmixed  with 
ashes  and  paper  will  not  burn  easily,  some  other  way 
must  be  found.  This  method  is  called  "reduction"  be- 
cause by  cooking  and  drying,  the  garbage  is  reduced  to 
two  substances,  grease  and  fertilizer.  Both  of  these  can 
be  made  to  help  pay  for  the  cost  of  collecting  and  reducing 
the  garbage. 

The  war  taught  us  all  how  foolish  we  had  been  to 
throw  good  food  into  the  garbage  pail  and  to  dump  tin- 
foil, bottles,  shoes  and  other  useful  things  into  the  trash 
barrel.  American  cities  today  are  much  less  wasteful 
than  they  were  eight  years  ago,  and  every  one  of  us 
should  do  his  part  in  helping  to  keep  up  the  thrift  habit. 


REFUSE  321 

Now  what  part  have  we,  as  good  citizens,  in  seeing 
to  the  refuse  of  our  city  or  village?  In  the  first  place, 
let's  remember  that  citizenship  begins  at  home.  Our 
first  duty  is  to  see  that  our  own  garbage  pail  is  tightly 
covered  and  clean,  so  that  it  will  not  smell  unpleasant 
and  so  that  passing  cats  and  dogs  or  flies  will  not  be 
attracted  by  it.  Neither  the  garbage  can  nor  the  ash-can 
should  be  too  full  or  they  may  overflow. 

Our  ashes  we  should  put  into  a  metal  can,  to  avoid 
fire,  and  this  too  should  be  covered,  so  as  not  to  have  ashes 
driven  about  in  the  street  air. 

Papers  should  not  be  left  loose,  but  neatly  tied  into 
bundles,  so  that  they  will  not  blow  about.  Just  think 
what  an  immense  difference  it  would  make  if  everyone 
on  your  street  worked  together  to  keep  the  street  looking 
clean  and  orderly.  The  trouble  is  that  most  people  seem 
to  think  that  the  Street  Cleaning  Department,  or  the 
Board  of  Health,  or  someone  else  has  the  entire  respon- 
sibility for  clean  streets,  and  a  healthful  city.  They  for- 
get that  the  city  is  their  city,  that  its  streets  belong  to 
them  and  that  no  Street  Cleaning  Department  can  keep 
a  city  clean  whose  citizens  are  dirty,  any  more  than  a 
Board  of  Health  can  keep  a  city  healthful  if  the  citizens 
lead  unhealthy  lives. 

In  the  olden  times,  city  people  had  not  only  to  keep 
their  own  sidewalks  clean,  as  they  do  now,  but  the  street 
too— unless  they  preferred  to  leave  it  dirty.  When 
Benjamin  Franklin  lived  in  Philadelphia,  about  200  years 
ago,  there  were  no  pavements  in  the  streets,  and,  as  you 
can  imagine,  they  were  perfect  mud-holes  in  winter  and 

21 


322  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

deep  with  dust  in  summer.  The  city  was  so  very  dirty, 
that  its  name,  Philadelphia,  was  twisted  into  the  nick- 
name "Filthy-dirty." 

Franklin  lived  near  the  Jersey  market,  and  what  with 
the  wagons  constantly  driving  in  and  the  crowds  of  peo- 
ple who  came  there  to  market,  it  was  ankle-deep  in  mud. 
Franklin  succeeded  in  having  a  pavement  laid,  but  this 
pavement  was  soon  so  thick  with  mud  that  it  was  nearly 
as  bad  as  before.  And  of  course  all  this  mud  was  tracked 
into  the  Market  Street  houses  and  the  dust  blew  in  clouds 
into  Franklin's  dining-room  window  in  summer. 

Now  Franklin  was  never  the  sort  of  man  who  grumb- 
led and  scolded  and  said,  "Why  don't  they  do  something 
about  it?"  His  way  was  always  to  do  something  about 
it  himself.  So  he  hunted  up  a  man  who  was  willing  to 
clean  all  the  pavements  of  the  houses  opposite  to  the 
market,  if  each  house  would  pay  him  sixpence  a  month. 
This  seems  an  absurdly  low  amount,  but  we  must  remem- 
ber that  in  those  days  things  cost  very  much  less  than 
now  and  people  could  live  on  far  lower  wages. 

Then  Franklin  put  into  his  newspaper  an  advertise- 
ment explaining  his  idea  and  sent  a  paper  to  everyone 
on  the  street.  They  all  gladly  agreed  to  pay  the  sixpence 
and  so  their  street  had  the  first  street-cleaner  in 
Philadelphia,  Later,  Franklin,  wanting  the  whole  city  to 
be  as  clean  as  his  own  street,  persuaded  the  Assembly  to 
pass  a  law  for  paving  the  entire  city  and  this  was  done  and 
street  cleaners  were  hired. 

Now  that  we  no  longer  have  to  carry  away  our  own 
garbage  and  rubbish  and  clean  our  own  streets,  we  must 
not  feel  that  we  have  no  responsibility.  Every  citizen 


REFUSE  323 

should  help  the  street  cleaners  by  keeping  his  own  walk 
clean  and  by  throwing  fruit  skins,  newspapers  and  all 
such  rubbish  into  the  cans  provided  for  them.  About 
twenty  years  ago,  the  Street  Cleaning  Commissioner  of 
New  York  City,  Colonel  Waring,  decided  that  the  children 
ought  to  do  more  to  help  keep  the  city  clean.  So  he 
formed  them  into  clubs  called  Juvenile  Leagues.  Thous- 
ands of  New  York's  younger  citizens  are  now  enrolled  in 
these  Leagues,  under  the  direction  of  a  blind  man  named 
Mr.  Eeuben  S.  Simons.  In  a  school  where  a  League 
exists,  a  School  and  Street  Committee  sees  that  the  school 
grounds  and  neighborhood  are  kept  free  from  litter  by 
the  pupils.  A  Sanitary  Committee  calls  on  janitors  and 
tenants  to  tell  them  about  the  city  ordinances  for  keeping 
their  premises  safe  and  sanitary,  and  the  members  of  a 
Vigilant  Committee  try  to  aid  in  keeping  blocks  where 
they  live  clean  and  safe.  Those  who  join  the  League 
take  the  following  pledge : 

"We,  who  are  soon  to  be  citizens  of  New  York,  the 
largest  city  on  the  American  continent,  desire  to  have 
her  possess  a  name  which  is  above  reproach.  We,  there- 
fore, agree  to  keep  from  littering  her  streets,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  prevent  others  from  doing  the  same,  in 
order  that  our  City  may  be  as  clean  as  she  is  great 'and 
as  pure  as  she  is  free." 

REFUSE 

What  are  some  reasons  why  city  streets  must  be  clean  and  wholesome? 
Make  a  list  of  materials  we  call  "rubbish"  and  tell  what  should  be  done 
with  each. 

What  are  some  bad  results  that  come  from  careless  handling  of  rubbish 
in  towns  and  cities?  Are  there  any  examples  in  your  town? 


324  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

What  profit  can  a  city  make  by  burning  its  garbage  and  rubbish?  Is 
your  town's  garbage  burned?  If  so,  with  your  class,  visit  the  place,  if 
you  can  arrange  it,  and  report  on  what  you  learn,  to  your  school. 

Tell  how  grease  and  fertilizer  can  be  obtained  from  garbage.  What 
are  advantages  of  this  method  of  garbage  disposal? 

What  duty  has  each  of  us,  as  a  good  citizen,  about  the  family  garbage 
can  ?  About  our  ashes  ?  About  waste  papers  ? 

Can  the  city  street  cleaning  department  do  its  work  without  our  co- 
operation? Find  out,  by  studying  your  city  ordinances  or  by  writing 
to  the  proper  persons,  what  the  city  requires  of  you,  and  what  service  it 
owes  you,  in  respect  to  clean  streets  and  alleys. 

Tell  the  story  of  how  Benjamin  Franklin  got  paved  streets  and  street 
cleaners  for  Philadelphia. 

Describe  the  Juvenile  Leagues  of  New  York  City.  If  there  is  nothing  of 
the  sort  working  in  your  school,  organize  such  a  league.  Set  yourself  a  list 
of  good  results  you  want  to  produce  and  see  how  many  you  can  reach 
each  month. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

BATHING 

MANY  years  ago,  a  famous  chemist,  Baron  von  Liebig, 
declared  that  you  could  measure  the  civilization  of  a 
country  by  the  amount  of  soap  it  used.  Of  course,  this 
is  only  partly  true,  but  if  we  study  history,  we  really  do 
find  that  the  great  nations  have  always  been  the 
clean  nations. 

Greece  and  Rome,  as  you  know,  were  the  two  great 
nations  of  the  ancient  world,  and  in  both  of  them  baths 
played  a  very  important  part  in  the  people's  daily  life. 
The  Roman  bath-houses  were  especially  magnificent.  They 
sometimes  covered  land  equal  to  a  good  many  of  our  city 
blocks  and  contained,  gardens,  libraries,  gymnasia,  etc. 
In  fact,  the  baths,  instead  of  being  used  merely  for  clean- 
liness, were  really  turned  into  club  houses,  where  the 
Romans  met  to,  gossip  and  amuse  themselves.  If  you 
ever  visit  Rome,  you  may  see  a  beautiful  church  that  was 
once  a  room — just  a  single  room — in  the  great  bath  built 
by  the  Roman  Emperor  Diocletian. 

In  modern  times,  too,  we  find  that  the  most  wide- 
awake and  vigorous  nations,  the  ones  that  are  advancing 
most  rapidly,  are  those  whose  people  keep  themselves 
in  good  health.  And  one  of  the  most  important  health 
habits  is  that  of  daily  bathing. 

In  1904  everyone  was  surprised  when  little  Japan 
fought  with  and  overcame  the  very  much  bigger  nation, 
Russia.  Now  of  course,  it  wasn't  merely  bathing  that 

32* 


326  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

made  the  Japanese  so  strong  and  so  clever,  but  still  it  is 
true  that  the  Russian  peasants  have  always  been  very 
dirty,  while  the  Japanese  were  the  cleanest  people  in 
the  world.  At  the  time  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the 
city  of  Petrograd  had  only  about  sixty-two  baths,  while 
Tokio  had  about  eight  hundred.  A  Japanese  who  bathes 
only  once  a  day  is  thought  not  so  particular  as  he  should 
be,  and  if  you  ever  go  to  Japan,  you  will  find  that  at  every 
inn,  you  are,  as  a  matter  of  course,  at  once  given  soap 
and  towels  and  taken  to  the  bathroom  or  the  public 
bath-house. 

Someone  has  called  the  skin  a  " third  lung,"  because, 
like  the  lungs,  it  throws  out,  from  its  three  million  sweat 
glands,  the  waste  matter  that  would  otherwise  poison 
our  bodies.  This  waste  matter  actually  amounts  to  more 
than  two  pounds  a  day,  so  it  is  easy  to  see  how  choked 
up  these  tiny  waste  pipes  will  become  if  they  are  not 
cleaned  thoroughly  and  often. 

For  a  great  many  years,  the  European  cities  have  had 
public  baths,  but  is  was  not  until  about  thirty  years  ago 
that  America  began  to  wake  up  to  the  importance  of 
keeping  her  citizens  clean.  As  the  doctors  and  scientists 
learned  more  about  the  human  body  and  about  how  dis- 
eases are  carried,  they  began  to  preach  bathing  as  a  pre- 
ventive of  sickness. 

Of  course  a  great  many  private  houses,  twenty -five 
years  ago,  had  bath-tubs,  but  there  were  thousands  and 
thousands  of  tenements  that  had  no  bath  at  all,  and  there 
were  no  public  baths  to  which  the  people  could  go. 

In  cities  built  on  river  banks  or  by  the  sea,  naturally 
the  cheapest  and  easiest  thing  was  to  build  floating  baths 


BATHING 


327 


in  the  river  or  harbor  and  many  cities  did  this.  New 
York  City  spent  $180,000,000  in  building  fifteen  of  these 
floating  baths. 

But  you  remember  that,  in  talking  about  water,  we 
saw  how  the  water  near  large  cities  is  always  dirty  and 
often  contains  disease  germs.  Mr.  Simon  Baruch,  a  man 
who  has  perhaps  done  more  than  anyone  else  to  encour- 


age the  building  of  public  baths  in  the  United  States,  has 
called  Manhattan  Island  "a  body  of  land  surrounded 
by  sewage. "  Now  you  know  that  most  people  when  they 
are  swimming  or  jumping  up  and  down  in  the  water  laugh- 
ing and  talking,  are  pretty  sure  to  swallow  some  of  it. 
So  you  can  see  that  bathing  in  an  open  river  bath  near 
a  big  city  may  be  pretty  dangerous.  New  York  finally 
decided  that  it  was  too  dangerous  to  be  allowed,  and  in 
1914,  these  river  baths  were  forbidden. 

Very   soon,  however,   these   baths   were  fitted   with 
water-tight  tanks  and  filled  with  water  from  the  Croton 


328  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

River  pipes.  As  they  are  re-filled  daily  and  treated  with 
chemicals  to  kill  any  disease  germs,  they  are  now  quite 
safe  and  a  great  blessing  to  New  Yorkers  in  broiling 
August  weather,  for  New  York,  I  am  told,  has  the  world's 
record  for  the  greatest  number  of  sunstrokes. 

But  baths  like  these  can  be  used  only  in  summer  and 
as  they  are  cold,  they  are  more  effective  for  refreshing 
and  toning  up  the  body  than  for  really  cleaning  it.  You 
know  how  hard  it  is  to  wash  greasy  dishes  in  cold  water. 
In  the  same  way,  to  dissolve  the  grease  and  dirt  and  make 
our  three  million  waste-pipes  really  clean,  we  need  hot 
water  and  soap. 

In  every  great  city,  there  are  thousands  of  families 
who  have  no  bath-tub.  In  New  York  City,  there  are 
almost  500,000  tenements  without  baths.  How  can  these 
families  keep  clean? 

In  all  the  large  cities  and  in  many  of  the  smaller  ones 
public  bath-houses  have  been  built,  where  anyone  who  is 
free  from  contagious  disease  can  have  a  bath  either  free 
or  by  paying  a  few  cents  for  soap  and  a  towel. 

Of  course,  in  our  own  families,  we  do  not  mind  using 
the  same  tub,  because  we  are  all  "good  neighbors"  and 
each  one  scrubs  out  the  tub  when  he  finishes  his  bath,  but 
a  big  public  bath-house  is  used  by  all  sorts  of  careless, 
ignorant  people.  These  baths  are  therefore  provided 
with  showers,  so  that  there  are  no  tubs  to  clean  and  no 
danger  of  one  bather  catching  any  skin  disease  from 
another.  Each  bather,  too,  has  a  fresh  piece  of  soap  and 
a  clean  towel  which  has  been  boiled,  so  that  no  disease 
jrerms  can  travel  in  it, 


BATHING 


329 


In  some  bath-houses,  beside  the  showers  there  is  a 
big  swimming-pool.  Everyone  has  to  get  thoroughly 
clean  in  the  shower  before  he  is  allowed  to  go  into  the 
pool.  In  some  pools,  the  water  is  constantly  changed  by 
pipes  that  carry  off  the  soiled  water  and  bring  in  fresh 
water.  In  others,  the  water  is  filtered  very  frequently  and 
has  chemicals  put  into  it  to  kill  the  germs. 


A  City  Bath  House. 

Several  years  ago,  a  chemist  examined  the  water  in 
the  big  swimming-pool  at  Amherst  College.  This  pool 
held  75,000  gallons  of  water  and  eighty  college  boys  swam 
there  every  day.  The  water  had  been  in  the  pool  for 
over  three  years  and  yet  -it  was  found  to  be  perfectly 
clean.  Now,  the  secret  of  this  crystal-clear  water  was 
that  it  had  been  filtered  every  day  and  had  been  dosed 
with  hypochlorite  of  lime  two  or  three  times  every  week. 
You  remember  that  filtering  will  remove  germs  from  the 
most  polluted  water  and  that  there  are  chemicals  that 
poison  germs  just  as  they  do  people. 


330  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  in  most  of  our  cities  we  are 
beginning  to  have  not  only  public  baths,  but  also 
school  baths,  where  all  the  children  who  cannot  bathe  at 
home  have  a  chance  to  get  the  bathing  habit  and  to  find 
out  how  much  stronger  and  brighter  and  better  a  good 
bath  makes  one  feel.  The  teachers  say  that  after  a  bath 
the  children  are  happier  and  more  wide-awake.  Besides 
this,  the  air  in  the  school-room  no  longer  has  the  sour, 
disagreeable  smell  that  comes  from  unwashed  bodies. 

Many  factories,  too,  have  begun  to  supply  baths  for 
their  employees.  The  owners  know  that  baths  keep  the 
men  in  better  health  and  happier,  and  that  strong,  happy 
people  can  work  much  better  than  sickly,  sad  ones. 

As  I  have  said,  one  of  the  great  reasons  for  keeping 
clean  is  that  it  helps  to  check  the  spread  of  disease.  A 
very  wonderful  proof  of  this  was  given  by  a  noted  man, 
Dr.  Richard  P.  Strong  in  Serbia  in  1914.  The  Austrian 
prisoners  in  Serbia  were  covered  with  vermin  and  these 
tiny  insects,  when  they  bite,  often  have  first  bitten  some- 
one suffering  with  the  dreadful  disease  called  typhus. 
So  the  germ  is  planted,  by  the  bite,  in  the  body  of  a  well 
person  and  he  falls  sick.  In  a  short  time  there  were 
300,000  cases  of  typhus  in  Serbia. 

Dr.  Strong,  head  of  our  Red  Cross  Commission,  saw 
that  the  only  way  was  to  give  every  man,  woman  and  child 
a  bath,  and  so  get  rid  of  the  vermin.  So  Serbia  was  di- 
vided into  fourteen  districts  and  through  every  district, 
from  village  to  village,  went  a  bath-train. 

In  the  morning,  before  the  train  arrived,  all  the  men 
were  gathered  in  big  tents  beside  the  railroad-track. 
Many  of  them  had  not  had  their  clothes  off  for  months. 


BATHING  331 

They  undressed  and  when  the  train  arrived,  each  man 
went  into  the  first  car  and  scrubbed  with  hot  water  and 
soap,  then  into  another  car  where  he  had  a  shower  bath. 
Then  the  doctor  looked  him  over  and  sponged  him  with 
petroleum  to  kill  any  lingering  insects.  Then  he  put  on 
his  clothes,  which  had  been  washed,  disinfected  and  dried. 

In  the  evening,  the  women  and  little  children  went 
through  the  same  process.  For  the  first  time  in  history, 
a  whole  country  was  forced  to  take  a  bath.  And  what 
was  the  result!  In  August,  1915,  four  months  later, 
there  were  scarcely  ten  cases  of  typhus  in  all  Serbia ! 

So  all  over  America  we  are  beginning  to  see  that  the 
Jewish  Talmud  was  right  thousands  of  years  ago  when 
it  said  "Cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness/'  Cleanliness 
does  not  always  bring  health,  but  health  is  seldom  kept 
without  it,  and  without  health,  we  all  know  how  hard  it 
is  to  be  happy  and  good  either  in  our  own  homes,  at 
school  or  with  our  neighbors. 

BATHING 

Why  did  Baron  von  Liebig  say  that  civilization  was  measured  by  the 
use  of  soap? 

Find  in  some  Greek  or  Roman  history  a  picture,  in  words  or  drawing, 
of  one  of  the  great  public  baths.  Describe  the  process  of  bathing.  What 
effect  do  you  think  this  institution  had  on  the  appearance  and  health  of 
the  people  ? 

What  relation  is  there  between  health  and  cleanliness  and  the  vigor 
of  a  nation? 

Make  a  comparison  between  the  cleanliness  of  the  Russians  and  Japanese, 
during  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  If  you  can,  find  a  description  of  Japanese 
baths.  There  is  one  in  Kipling's  "From  Sea  to  Sea." 

Recall  what  you  have  learned  about  the  uses  of  the  skin.  What  does 
this  teach  as  to  the  need  of  bathing? 

Why  do  we  need  public  baths?  How  many  homes  in  New  York  are 
without  baths? 


332  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Describe  the  floating  baths  many  cities  have.  Why  were  these  closed  in 
New  York  in  1914?  How  are  the  New  York  public  baths  now  kept  clean 
and  safe? 

What  precautions  can  be  taken  to  keep  swimming-pool  water  safe? 
If  you  have  a  pool  in  your  neighborhood,  find  out  how  its  waters  are 
kept  pure. 

Why  should  there  be  baths  in  public  schools.  In  factories?  Why 
shower  baths  rather  than  tubs? 

Describe  the  "bath-train"  which  Doctor  Strong  took  through  Serbia 
in  1914.  Why  did  he  do  it?  What  wonderful  results  did  it  produce? 

Try  to  make  a  bath  census  in  your  town.  How  many  homes  are  without 
baths  ?  How  many  schools  have  baths  ?  How  many  public  baths  and  swim- 
ming pools  have  you?  How  are  these  kept  pure?  How  many  people  use 
them  yearly?  By  this  count  how  civilized  is  your  community? 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS 

NOT  long  ago,  I  visited  a  family  who  had  just  built  a 
new  house — one  of  the  finest  houses  I  had  ever  seen. 
The  children  were  delighted  to  escort  me  all  over  it. 
They  showed  me  the  bedrooms  for  each  member  of  the 
family,  the  kitchen  and  dining-room,  the  library,  the 
music  room,  which  contained  a  grand  piano  and  a  pipe 
organ,  their  father's  study,  where  he  was  going  to  work 
on  his  chemical  experiments,  the  conservatory  full  of 
beautiful  flowers,  the  beautiful  grounds  all  around  the 
house,  the  fine,  wide  halls  that  led  from  one  room  to  an- 
other. Last,  they  took  me  to  a  great  sunny  playroom, 
big  enough  for  a  game*  of  basket-ball,  with  a  stage  at  one 
end  where  they  could  act  out  plays  whenever  they 
wanted  to. 

Of  course  only  a  very  rich  man  can  afford  to  build  a 
house  like  this  for  his  children,  but  as  I  walked  home  I 
thought  that  a  city  should  be  like  a  great,  beautiful  house. 
Its  streets  should  be  wide  and  clean  like  halls.  It  should 
have  light,  pleasant  work-rooms.  It  should  have  a  fine, 
large  library.  It  should  give  concerts  in  great  concert 
halls,  where  all  the  great  family  of  people  who  call  the 
city  their  home  could  come  freely.  It  should  have  parks 
and  hot-houses,  playgrounds  for  all  the  children  and  for 
the  grownups  too.  If  every  city  were  like  that,  I  thought, 
we  should  not  envy  the  rich  man,  for  we  should  have  all 
the  pleasures  of  a  great,  beautiful  house,  and  none  of 

333 


334  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

the  care  of  it — or  only  enough,  care  to  make  us  appre- 
ciate it. 

When  America  was  first  settled,  there  was  not  much 
thought  given  to  making  towns  beautiful  or  to  providing 
pleasure  and  play  for  the  townspeople.  The  early  set- 
tlers were  too  busy  fighting  the  Indians,  clearing  the 
wilderness  and  getting  a  living  from  the  soil.  Besides, 
there  were  no  great  cities  here  then.  Around  every  vil- 
lage there  was  plenty  of  open  ground  where  the  older 
people  could  stroll,  the  young  folks  dance,  and  the  chil- 
dren play  tag  and  hide-and-seek.  In  New  York  City,  tho 
name  "Bowling  Green"  still  clings  to  the  place,  where, 
a  hundred  years  ago  or  more,  young  New  Yorkers  used 
to  come  to  play  at  bowls  in  the  cool  breezes  from  the  har- 
bor. As  for  the  Bowery,  with  its  shabby  ugliness  shad- 
owed by  the  elevated  road,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  it  took 
its  name  from  the  lovely  summer-houses  and  gardens  of 
the  Dutch  settlers  who  lived  here. 

In  those  early  days,  not  only  were  there  plenty  of 
play-places,  but  plenty  of  time  for  play.  People  did  not 
feel,  as  they  do  now,  that  everyone,  rich  and  poor,  should 
be  educated,  and  there  were  no  free  public  schools  to 
which  all  the  children  had  to  go.  The  children  of  rich 
parents  were  taught,  but  the  poor  children  played  until 
they  were  big  enough  to  do  a  little  work.  Then  they 
were  set  to  work  in  earnest.  Even  an  unusually  bright 
boy  like  Benjamin  Franklin,  after  only  two  years  of 
school,  was  set  to  learning  his  father's  trade  of  soap- 
making.  So  you  see  that  children  did  not  spend  most 
of  the  day  at  school  for  nine  months  of  the  year.  Nor 


PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS  335 

did  the  existence  of  great  cities  make  it  necessary  to  plan 
carefully  for  play-places. 

But  as  the  great  cities  grew,  and  children  spent  more 
and  more  time  in  school  and  grown  people  worked  harder 
and  faster  instead  of  taking  their  time  as  their  ancestors 
used  to  do,  it  became  clear  that  the  play-spaces  were  likely 
to  be  all  built  over  with  houses  and  stores  and  factories. 


And  as  wise  citizens  realized  this,  they  started  to  set 
aside  pieces  of  ground  for  parks,  so  that  even  if  people 
could  not  afford  houses  with  ground  around  them,  they 
could  still  have  a  place  to  enjoy  the  green  grass  and  trees. 
If  you  go  to  Central  Park,  in  New  York,  on  a  Saturday 
morning  in  May,  you  will  see  thousands  and  thousands  of 
children  playing  on  the  grass,  dancing  around  maypoles, 
playing  tag  or  ball,  or  eating  their  picnic  luncheon.  Other 
thousands  will  be  listening  to  a  band  concert,  rowing  on 


336 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


the  lake,  riding  in  the  goat  wagons,  or  strolling  along 
the  shady  walks. 

Or  you  can  take  a  steamer  tip  the  Hudson  Kiver  to 
Bear  Mountain,  where  the  State  has  set  aside  a  vast 
tract  of  wood,  lake  and  mountain  for  the  health  and 
happy  play  of  the  people.  The  swings  and  boats  are  all 


free  and  thousands  of  happy  people,  young  and  old,  play 
there  every  sunny  day  all  summer. 

All  over  America,  the  people  realize  that  they 
need  play  just  as  much  as  they  need  water  and  food,  and 
they  are  building  play-places.  I  read  recently  how  the 
city  of  Port  Pirie,  in  Australia,  had  built  a  ten  acre 
playground  in  one  day.  Of  course,  they  had  everything 
ready  beforehand,  and  it  took  three  thousand  workers  to 


PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS 


337 


do  it,  but  everyone  turned  in  and  helped  and  by  night 
the  playground  was  ready.  It  has  gardens  for  the  boys 
and  girls,  a  wading  pool,  a  kindergarten  and  day  nursery, 
a  lecture  hall,  five  big  playgrounds  for  the  older  boys, 
younger  boys,  older  girls,  younger  girls  and  the  little  tots. 
it  has  also  a  bowling  green,  place  for  throwing  quoits  and 
for  open  air  moving  pictures.  And  the  nicest  thing  about 
it  is  that  it  isn't  merely  a  play-room  that  one  rich  man 


had  built  for  his  own  children,  but  that  it  is  a  vast  play- 
room that  all  the  people  built  together  for  their  children 
and  themselves.  That  is  what  a  democratic  city  can  do ! 

But  of  course,  in  a  big  city,  many  of  the  people  do 
not  live  near  the  park,  or  only  near  enough  to  go  there 
once  in  a  while.  And  the  children  want  a  place  to  play 
every  day. 

Many  cities  have  arranged  for  part  of  the  school  hours 
to  be  spent  in  play.  Often,  too,  the  school  yards  are  kept 
open,  so  that  the  children  can  play  there  after  school  and 
on  Saturdays. 

22 


338  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

In  many  cities,  certain  streets,  after  school  hours,  are 
reserved  for  the  children's  play  and  no  wagons  allowed 
on  them.  In  other  cities,  the  backyards  have  been  thrown 
into  one  by  tearing  down  fences  and  making  one  big  play- 
space  for  all  the  children  on  the  block.  This  is  especially 
good  for  the  little  ones  whose  mothers  want  to  watch 
them  from  the  window. 

In  1906,  the  Playground  Association  of  America  was 


A  Recreation  Pier. 


formed  with  Theodore  Eoosevelt  for  its  Honorary  Presi- 
dent. At  that  time  only  twenty  cities  in  America  had 
playgrounds.  But  the  men  and  women  who  formed  this 
association  were  good  neighbors.  They  were  determined 
that  every  American  should  have  a  chance  to  play,  and 
now  more  than  five  hundred  of  our  cities  have  play  grounds. 
The  cities  that  have  a  waterfront,  like  New  York,  are 
building  second  stories  to  their  piers  and  having  games, 
folk-dancing,  and  all  sorts  of  fun  there.  Other  cities 


PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS 


339 


have  been  holding  pageants  showing  the  history  of  their 
town,  or,  like  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  have  organ- 
ized a  theatrical  company  to  give  really  fine  performances 
of  good  plays  at  a  low  price.  All  over  our  country,  people 
are  beginning  to  realize  how  much  fun  they  can  get  by 
playing  together,  and  how  much  healthier  and  more 
worth  while  it  makes  them. 

You^know  that  during  the  war,  thousands  of  men  and 


Coney  Island,  Playground  of  a  Great  City.  * 

women  went  to  the  camps  here  and  in  Europe  just  to 
amuse  the  soldiers,  to  help  them  to  play,  to  keep  up  their 
spirits  and  health.  That  is  what  the  people  of  every  city 
should  do.  As  you  grow  older,  you  will  vote  and  pay 
taxes  and  have  a  voice  in  the  Government  of  your  city. 
I  hope  you  will  take  an  interest  in  the  parks  and  play- 
grounds of  your  town,  in  its  pageants,  free  concerts,  pic- 
ture galleries  and  all  other  things  which  make  its  people 
happier  and  more  alive. 


340  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

But  while  you  are  still  school  girls  and  boys,  you  can 
do  a  great  deal.  You  can  help  by  using  the  parks  and 
playgrounds,  by  helping  to  keep  them  clean,  by  protecting 
the  shrubs  and  flowers  and  newly  planted  grass.  You 
can  attend  the  concerts  and  visit  the  picture  galleries. 
This  may  not  seem  to  you  like  helping,  but  it  does  help, 
for  it  proves  that  such  things  are  really  useful  and  not 
silly  luxuries  which  only  rich  people  should  afford. 

As  I  said  at  first,  I  like  to  think  of  my  city  as  a  great 
house,  and  my  fellow  citizens  as  parts  of  a  great  family, 
all  of  us  using  the  halls  and  rooms  and  gardens  of  our 
house  and  all  of  us  helping  to  make  them  more  beautiful 
all  the  time. 

PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS 

Tell  some  interesting  things  about  early  New  York  which  made  it  un- 
necessary for  the  people  to  plan  for  playgrounds. 

Tell  how  changing  times  made  people  come  to  need  parks  and  playgrounds. 

Describe  the  nicest  playground  you  ever  saw.  Did  it  need  anything 
to  improve  it?  How  was  it  managed  so  as  to  give  all  the  paople  a  chance 
to  enjoy  it?  Were  grown  people  and  babies  provided  for  as  well  as  boys 
and  girls  of  your  age? 

How  are  playgrounds  provided  in    crowded  city  streets,  far  from  parks? 

What  is  the  "Playground  Association  of  America  ?"  Why  was  it  formed  ? 
What  are  some  interesting  new  forms  of  play  and  recreation  it  has 
introduced  ? 

Does  your  town  have  public  concerts?  A  public  theatre?  An  art 
gallery?  A  museum?  Tennis,  golf,  baseball,  etc.,  facilities  in  public  parks? 
Why  are  these  useful  to  a  community? 

As  boys  and  girls,  how  can  you  help  to  get  such  things  or  more  oi 
them,  for  your  town?  As  taxpayers,  when  you  are  grown,  what  can 
'you  do? 


CHAPTER  XIX 

DRUGS  AND  ALCOHOL 

ONE  of  the  pleasantest  memories  of  my  childhood  is 
that  of  a  visit  to  my  great-great  aunt.  She  lived  in  a 
dear  old  cotage,  on  land  that  her  grandfather  had  bought 
from  the  Indians.  I  loved  to  roam  through  its  low-ceiled 
rooms,  and  to  wander  through  its  old  fashioned  garden, 
sweet  with  heliotrope,  lemon  verbena  and  rose  geraniums. 
Another  delight  was  the  garret,  from  whose  rafters  hung 
all  sorts  of  dried  herbs. 

I  remember  these  herbs  especially,  because  while  we 
were  visiting  Aunt  Barbara,  I  caught  a  heavy  cold  and 
the  dear  old  soul  insisted  on  making  me  swallow  a  huge 
bowl  of  her  "herb  tea."  It  contained  seven  different 
sorts  of  herbs,  she  proudly  said,  and  was  made  after  a 
receipe  that  her  mother  used  long  ago,  in  England. 

Nowadays,  when  drugstores  are  so  close  at  hand  and 
are  ready  to  sell  us  a  "cure"  for  every  disease  under  the 
sun,  we  no  longer  think  of  drying  our  own  herbs  and 
making  our  own  medicine. 

I  sometimes  think  that  we  should  be  far  healthier  and 
happier  if  we  were  not  so  eager  to  have  things  done  for 
us  instead  of  doing  them  ourselves,  as  our  forefathers 
did.  Our  grandmothers  went  to  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
to  make  their  own  jellies,  preserves,  pickles  and  sausage- 
meat,  but  their  home-prepared  food  was  delicious  and, 
more  than  that,  they  knew  just  what  went  into  it.  They, 
to  a  great  extent,  made  their  own  simple  home  remedies 

341 


342  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

for  sickness,  and  if  their  liniments,  herb  teas  and 
simple  tonics  were  not  very  beneficial,  they  were  at 
least  harmless. 

Nowadays,  as  you  know,  the  Government,  in  order 
to  protect  us,  requires  every  manufacturer  of  canned 
eatables  to  label  the  can  plainly,  so  as  to  show  exactly 
what  the  goods  are.  Corn  syrup  cannot  be  labelled 
"maple,"  and  if  dye  or  benzoate  of  soda  is  put  into  cat- 
sup or  jam,  it  must  be  stated  on  the  label. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  medicines.  Anyone  who 
makes  a  "patent  medicine "  must  state  on  the  label  how 
much  alcohol,  cocaine,  laudanum,  or  other  poisonous  stuff 
it  contains.  And  it  is  forbidden  to  say,  on  the  label  of 
a  bottle,  that  it  can  perform  cures  that  it  cannot. 

But  people,  as  P.  T.  Barnum  used  to  say,  seem  to  like 
to  be  fooled.  Anything  new  and  mysterious  appeals  to 
them.  We  laugh  at  the  queer  remedies  that  savages  use, 
such  as  dried  snakes,  blood,  animals'  hairs,  and  other 
disgusting  things,  but  we  are  really  no  more  sensible  than 
these  savages.  Many  and  many  a  man  takes  medicine 
about  which  he  knows  absolutely  nothing,  except  what  the 
label  tells  him — and  unfortunately  the  labels  often  lie. 

Of  course  patent  medicines  are  often  harmless,  being 
made  up  of  well-known  drugs  that  anyone  can  buy  for  a 
fraction  of  the  price.  For  instance,  a  well  known  tonic 
sells  at  the  rate  of  four  dollars  and  fifty-four  cents  per 
pound  when  it  consists  almost  entirely  of  casein.  Now 
casein  is  found  in  many  foods  and  is  best  known  as 
the  curd  in  milk.  And  you  know  how  cheaply  you  can 
buy  cottage  cheese,  which  is  almost  pure  casein. 
Yet  a  man  who  would  laugh  at  cottage  cheese  as 


DRUGS  AND  ALCOHOL 


343 


a  tonic  will  spend  ten  times  as  much  money  for  something 
that  is  no  better,  but  is  put  up  in  a  bottle  with  a  fancy 
label.  Another  medicine  widely  advertised  for  asthma  and 
hay-fever  and  selling  at  five  dollars  and  eighty-two  cents  a 


ER  NUMBER  1098;* 


BOTTLE  CONTAINS  FIVE  PER  CENT.  OF  ALCOHOL,  ONE- 
fl  r.UAIN  MORPHINE  SULPHATE  PER  FLUID  OUNCE, OIL  OF 
•I)  CARAWAY,  CORIANDER,  JALAP,  SENNA,SUGAR  SYRUP  |lf 


ANGLO-AMERICAN  DRUG  GO.  SUCCESSORS  TO 
URTIS  A  PERKINS,  217  FULTON  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

,    ,/ .  •// '   /,  ,  />c  /    .-'  •/  A      //^ '        <rr-  .sf'i"*  <<<'    M«,J  :  ««•  «»««»  we  rooe  AHO  t 


pound  was  found  to  be  nothing  but  milk  sugar  worth 
ten  cents  a  pound. 

But  patent  medicines  often  do  worse  than  rob  people 
of  their  money — they  defraud  them  of  their  health.  One 
of  the  wickedest  things  that  is  done  is  the  making  and 
selling  of  "soothing  syrups"  for  babies.  These  syrups 
almost  all  contain  laudanum,  morphine,  or  some  other 


344  A  CITY  OP  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

drug  which  deadens  the  pain,  but  which  is  very  dangerous 
and  may  even  kill  the  poor  baby.  Of  course,  the  law 
requires  that  the  label  shall  say  that  there  is  laudanum, 
or  morphine  in  the  medicine,  but  many  ignorant  mothers 
do  not  know  what  laudanum  and  morphine  are  and  do 
not  realize  that  they  are  poisons. 

Since  this  ig  true,  not  only  of  laudanum  but  of  strych- 
nine, cocaine  and  many  other  poisons,  the  only  sensible 
and  safe  way  is  to  take  no  medicine  but  what  the  doctor 
advises,  for  no  one  wants  to  waste  his  money,  injure  his 
health  and  help  dishonest  men  to  cheat  sick  people.  In 
this  matter,  it  is  everyone's  duty,  as  a  "good  neighbor," 
to  do  his  part  by  avoiding  such  dishonest  medicines  and 
warning  others  against  them. 

Of  all  drugs,  the  most  widely  used  and  the  one  which 
has  caused  the  most  suffering  is  alcohol.  For  years,  it 
was  used  very  commonly  and  the  Government  merely 
licensed  the  saloon,  just  as  it  licenses  the  drugstore. 
But  the  Government  has  found  that  it  must  forbid  the 
sale  except  on  a  doctor's  prescription,  of  laudanum, 
morphine,  opium  and  other  poisonous,  habit-forming 
drugs,  because  people  become  slaves  to  these  drugs,  and 
other  people,  without  any  conscience  or  heart,  are  wil- 
ling to  make  money  out  of  these  poor  people  by  selling 
them  the  drugs.  The  Government  has  finally  reached 
the  same  decision  concerning  alcohol  and  has  forbidden 
its  manufacture  or  sale,  except  for  medicine. 

This  decision  was  reached  after  long  years  of  study, 
experiment  and  argument.  As  a  result  of  these  years, 
it  has  been  clearly  proved  that  even  moderate  drinking 


DRUGS  AND  ALCOHOL  345 

weakens  the  body  so  that  it  is  more  likely  to  fall  a  victim 
to  any  germ  that  comes  along.  It  also  injures  the  mem- 
ory and  power  of  attention.  Drinking  is  responsible  for 
a  great  number  of  accidents  and  causes  an  immense 
amount  of  poverty,  suffering  and  unhappiness,  both  to 
the  drinker  and  his  family. 

I  have  heard  people  say,  "If  a  man  wants  to  drink,  it 
is  his  own  affair.  The  community  has  no  right  to  inter- 
fere in  his  private  affairs."  But  such  people  do  not  stop 
to  think  that  a  drinking  man  is  liable  to  injure  a  fellow 
workman,  to  wreck  a  train,  to  neglect  his  wife  and  family, 
and  to  ruin  his  own  health  so  that  the  community  has  to 
care  for  him  and  for  his  family  as  well.  Has  the  com- 
munity no  right  to  prevent  this?  Must  the  community 
stand  quietly  aside  and  let  him  not  only  risk  his  own 
life  but  also  ruin  other  lives,  leaving  the  community  to 
pay  the  bills? 

In  1917,  before  we  entered  the  war,  more  than  eighty- 
seven  per  cent,  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  had 
forbidden  the  sale  of  liquor  and  more  than  sixty  per  cent, 
of  the  people  lived  in  this  "dry"  territory.  So  it  was 
not  really  such  a  tremendous  change  when,  on  November 
21,  1918,  the  emergency  " war-time"  prohibition  law  was 
passed,  nor  when,  on  January  16,  1920,  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  proclaimed  nation- 
wide prohibition. 

Now  that  the  sale  of  liquor  is  illegal,  just  as  the  sale 
of  opium,  cocaine,  and  other  drugs  is  illegal,  we  shall 
have  a  chance  to  see  just  how  much  better  off  we  are, 
how  much  more  money  we  shall  have  for  other  and  better 


346  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

things,  how  much  happier  and  healthier  our  cities  will 
be,  and  how  much  better  neighbors  we  can  all  become. 

DRUGS  AND  ALCOHOL 

Probably  you  have  taken  old-fashioned  herb  remedies  for  colds  and 
coughs,  or  other  sickness.  What  advantage  have  they  over  "patent"  medicine 
of  today?  Were  they  always  effective? 

Why  do  we  need  protection  by  the  Government  from  the  sellers  of 
medicines?  What  kind  of  protection  do  we  get? 

Give  some  examples  that  show  how  expensive  it  may  be  to  buy  widely 
advertised  patent  medicines. 

Give  some  reasons  why  it  is  very  dangerous  to  give  babies  widely 
advertised  soothing  syrups? 

What  is  the  safe  thing  to  do  about  taking  medicine? 

On  what  proofs  did  the  Government  pass  the  "Prohibition  Law"  in 
January,  1920?  Why  is  it  not  a  man's  own  affair,  if  he  drinks  alcohol? 

What  percentage  of  the  area  of  the  United  States  already  had  some 
form  of  prohibition  prior  to  1917?  What  percentage  of  the  population 
lived  at  that  time  in  "dry"  territory  ?  What  do  these  figures  mean  to  you  ? 

In  what  ways  do  we  hope  to  profit  from  having  prohibition? 


CHAPTER  XX 

MAKING  THE  COMMUNITY  SAFE 

THE  other  day,  after  a  heavy  snow,  I  was  walking 
down  a  very,  steep,  hilly  street.  It  was  filled  with  chil- 
dren on  sleds  careering  down  the  slope  with  shouts  of 
glee.  Now  there  is  nothing  I  like  better  than  a  good 
"coast",  but  as  I  looked  at  the  children,  I  felt  frightened, 
for  I  saw  that  their  sleds  were  running  right  across  an- 
other street,  near  the  foot  of  the  hill.  I  was  just  going 
to  ask  one  of  the  boys  whether  he  did  not  think  it  would 
be  safer  to  coast  in  the  park  nearby,  when  what  I  was 
afraid  of,  happened.  A  load  of  children  had  just  reached 
the  cross-street,  when  a  big  truck  appeared,  right  across 
their  path. 

If  the  boy  who  was  steering  had  lost  his  head,  I  am 
afraid  some  or  all  of  the  children  would  have  been  badly 
hurt.  Luckily,  he  had  sense  enough,  and  just  time 
enough,  to  swerve  the  sled  one  side  toward  the  sidewalk, 
where  it  buried  its  nose  in  a,  big  snow-bank  and  all  the 
children  fell  off  into  the  soft  snow. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  the  danger,  so  narrowly  escaped, 
scared  the  children  enough  to  make  them  take  their  sleds 
into  the  park,  where  they  could  coast  safely  and  happily. 

As  I  walked  on,  I  could  not  help  thinking  how  queer 
people,  grownups  as  well  as  children,  are.  We  none  of 
us  want  to  be  injured  or  killed,  but  almost  all  of  us  put 
ourselves  and  others  in  danger  simply  because  we  "can't 
be  bothered"  with  being  careful.  People  will  walk  on 

347 


348 


A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 


railroad  tracks,  jump  on  moving  cars,  throw  lighted 
matches  about,  keep  poison  in  their  medicine  closets, 
dash  across  crowded  streets  and  do  dozens  of  other  things 
that  are  dangerous  to  themselves  and  may  cause  injury 
or  death  to  others.  And  the  queerest  part  of  it  is  that 
when  one  of  these  reckless  people  gets  hurt,  he  generally 


Dangerous  Play. 

seems  to  feel  that  it  is  not  his  fault  at  all.  He  blames  the 
railroad,  or  the  conductor,  or  the  chauffeur,  or  anyone  but 
his  own  careless  self. 

Now  this  recklessness  is  not  good  citizenship.  It  is 
not  being  a  good  neighbor,  especially  as  every  community 
pays  out  a  vast  deal  of  money  to  protect  its  careless 
citizens.  I  wonder  if  you  ever  stopped  to  think  of  all 
the  various  ways  in  which  your  city  spends  money  to 


MAKING  THE  COMMUNITY  SAFE  349 

protect  you  from  danger.  I  do  not  mean  the  police  and 
the  firemen.  They  are,  of  course,  absolutely  necessary 
and  everyone  realizes  how  much  they  do.  I  mean  the 
thousand  and  one  little  safety  devices  that  guard  us  all 
from  danger — the  signals  that  warn  our  train  of  another 
train  ahead,  the  fender  on  the  trolley  and  cable  cars,  the 


life  preservers  on  the  ferry  and  excursion  boats,  the  fire 
escapes,  the  asbestos  curtains  at  the  theatres,  the  "isles 
of  safety"  in  crowded  streets,  the  air  cushions  in  elevator 
shafts,  the  ridged  treads  on  the  steps  of  public  stairways, 
the  "watch  your  step ' '  signs  and  many,  many  more  proofs 
that  the  community  thinks  human  lives  worth  saving. 

All  of  these  various  efforts  to  protect  life  cost  a  city 
a  great  deal  of  money  and  it  is  up  to  every  good  citizen 


350  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

to  do  his  share  so  that  that  money  shall  not  have  been 
wasted.  If  the  city  requires  my  landlord  to  provide  my 
house  with  afire  escape,  and  also  provides  a  city  inspector 
to  test  all  fire  escapes  and  see  that  they  are  strong  and 
safe,  isn't  it  rather  lazy  and  mean  of  me  to  keep  the 
escape  so  cluttered  with  boxes,  bedding  and  all  sorts  of 
rubbish,  that  the  fire  escape  is  useless  and  my  neighbors ' 
lives  in  danger? 

If  the  city  spends  thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars 
to  pay  firemen,  feed  fire  horses  and  buy  fire  apparatus, 
isn't  it  contemptible  of  me  to  go  right  on  throwing  matches 
and  cigarettes  about,  building  bonfires,  putting  hot  ashes 
into  wooden  barrels,  leaving  lighted  lamps  in  empty 
rooms  and  doing  other  things  that  are  likely  to  cause 
fires,  injure  my  own  property  and  very  likely  burn  up 
my  neighbors'  houses  and  perhaps  cost  the  lives  of 
many  people? 

At  every  busy  corner  in  New  York,  there  is  a  police- 
man who  does  nothing  all  day  but  direct  the  automobiles 
and  wagons,  halting  the  traffic  every  now  and  then  so  that 
the  people  on  foot  may  get  safely  across.  And  yet  there 
are  thousands  of  people  hurt  and  killed  every  year  in 
New  York  because  they  won't  wait  for  the  policeman  to 
give  the  signal,  or  because  they  dash  across  in  the  middle 
of  the  street  instead  of  crossing,  as  they  ought,  at 
the  corner. 

The  city  has  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  in  putting 
rubbish  cans  on  the  streets,  but  it  is  easier  to  throw  a 
banana  skin  on  the  sidewalk  than  to  carry  it  to  the  nearest 
can,  so  our  sidewalks  are  often  littered  and  made  danger- 
ous with  fruit  skins.  By  the  way,  did  you  know  that  horses 


MAKING  THE  COMMUNITY  SAFE  351 

are  very  fond  of  banana  skins  ?  Why  not  feed  them  instead 
of  littering  the  street? 

People  walk  up  public  stairways  with  umbrellas  under 
their  arms  that  threaten  to  put  out  the  eyes  of  anyone 
following  them.  They  break  bottles  in  the  street,  where 
they  may  cut  the  feet  of  dogs  and  ruin  automobile  tires. 
They  rush  violently  through  swinging  doors,  letting  them 
strike  the  people  behind.  They  spit  in  public  places, 
spreading  tuberculosis  and  other  diseases. 

Why  do  children,  and  many  grown  people,  too,  do 
these  things  1  Not  because  they  want  to  be  disagreeable, 
not  because  they  mean  to  injure  others,  but  simply  because 
they  have  never  formed  the  habit  of  being  careful  for 
themselves  and  others. 

Carefulness  is  really  a  habit,  and  this  habit  ought 
to  be  formed  by  all  of  us,  as  early  as  possible.  That  is 
why,  in  1912,  the  American  Museum  of  Safety  was  started 
in  New  York,  to  help  school  children  to  form  the  habit 
of  being  careful.  In  a  great  many  schools,  "Careful 
Clubs"  have  been  formed  and  the  girls  and  boys  take 
pride  in  showing  their  good  citizenship  by  helping,  in- 
stead of  hindering  their  city's  efforts  to  protect  them. 

Here  are  a  few  things  that  every  good  neighbor  should 
know,  in  order  to  be  safe  and  to  save  others.  Perhaps 
you  can  suggest  some  other  things. 

He  should  know  that  the  right  way  to  get  on  or  off 
a  street  car  is  to  face  the  way  the  car  is  going. 

He  should  cross  a  busy  street  only  at  the  corner  and 
never  cross  any  street  without  first  looking  to  see  whether 
the  coast  is  clear. 

He  should  know  enough  not  to  touch  a  broken  wire, 


352  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

but  report  it  to  a  policeman.  Live  wires  have  killed 
many  inquisitive  people. 

He  should  never  stand  near  the  gate  of  an  elevator 
and  always  "watch  his  step"  in  getting  on  or  off 
an  elevator. 

He  should  play  in  safe  places  and  at  safe  times,  not  in 
crowded  streets  where  automobiles,  trucks  and  wagons 
make  such  play  dangerous. 

He  should  never  play  with  fire. 

He  should  always  look  out,  when  he  passes  behind  a 
car  or  train,  for  any  car,  train  or  vehicle  coming  in  the 
other  direction. 

He  should  not  play  or  "hitch"  on  moving  cars,  trains 
or  automobiles. 

Probably  you  can  think  of  a  good  many  other  ' '  safety 
habits"  that  all  good  neighbors  should  form.  But  the 
first  step  in  forming  such  habits  is  to  realize  that  reck- 
lessness is  not  bravery  and  that  to  risk  your  own  and 
other  people's  lives  is  just  pure  silliness.  It  is  fine  to 
disregard  your  own  safety  in  order  to  save  others,  as 
the  firemen  do,  but  it  is  foolish  and  wrong  to  do  danger- 
ous things,  just  to  "show  off"  or  because  someone  dares 
you  to.  Our  country  needs  all  the  useful  citizens  that  it 
can  possibly  have  and  it  spends  lots  of  money — the  money 
of  your  father  and  other  tax-payers — to  keep  us  out  of 
danger.  Isn't  it  only  fair  that  we  should  do  our  part  to 
make  our  community  safe? 

MAKING  THE   COMMUNITY  SAFE 

Make  a  list  of  all  the  devices  that  protect  you  from  harm  in  your  home. 
Make  a  list  of  all  the  devices  that  you  noticed  on  your  way  to  school, 
which  protect  you  from  harm. 

Make  such  a  list  for  your  school. 


MAKING  THE  COMMUNITY  SAFE  353 

Are  there  any  rules  or  devices,  besides  these,  in  your  city,  which  you 
know  about? 

What  do  you  think  of  the  cost  of  such  devices  ?  Why  are  they  thought 
worth  while? 

What  cooperation  must  you  give  the  city,  to  help  keep  your  home  safe 
from  accidents  ?  From  fire  ? 

Wliat  cooperation  must  you  give  the  traffic  officers  to  help  keep  the 
streets  safe  from  accident? 

Make  up  two  original  safety  rules,  not  given  in  this  chapter. 

Learn  the  eight  "Good  Neighbor"  rules  in  this  chapter.  Select  ten 
which  you  think  most  important  for  school  children  from  all  the  original 
rules  brought  in  by  your  class  and  the  eight  in  the  book.  Now  make  these 
ten  rules  into  an  attractive  poster  and  put  one  in  every  room  in  your 
school.  Next  get  every  child  to  promise  to  learn  and  to  try  to  keep 
these  rules. 

When  is  the  only  time  it  is  fine  to  disregard  your  own  safety? 


CHAPTER  XXI 

BUILDING  A  CITY'S  CHARACTER 

ONE  of  the  many  wise  men  who  have  been  interested 
in  making  our  cities  better  and  more  beautiful  has  com- 
pared a  city  to  a  human  body. 

He  calls  the  business  section  the  city's  heart,  which 
works  constantly,  so  that  the  city  may  live.  We  some- 
times talk  about  a  ' '  live ' '  city,  for  just  as  the  body  cannot 
remain  alive  without  a  heart,  so  no  city  can  grow  and 
prosper  without  a  business  center.  In  every  "live"  city, 
there  is  a  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  other  business  or- 
ganizations that  work  to  make  the  city  better,  and  more 
attractive  so  that  people  will  like  to  do  business  there. 

The  water  and  sewer  mains  are  likened  to  the  arteries 
and  veins,  which  clean  and  freshen  the  city  and  carry  off 
its  wastes,  just  as  the  blood  does  for  the  body. 

The  parks  and  open  spaces  are  compared  to  the  lungs, 
for  without  them  the  city  would  be  choked  and  have  no 
free  breathing  spaces. 

The  highways  and  railroads  are  like  hands,  for  by 
means  of  them  the  city's  food  is  brought  to  it. 

The  railway  freight  depots  and  the  docks  are  com- 
pared to  the  mouth,  through  which  the  food  enters. 

The  electric  light  and  telephone  wires  are  likened 
to  the  nerves,  by  which  we  are  enabled  to  see,  hear,  and 
get  in  touch  with  the  outside  world. 

The  City  Hall  and  other  governmental  buildings  are 
like  the  mind  by  which  the  city  is  directed. 

354 


BUILDING  A  CITY'S  CHARACTER  355 

Lastly,  this  wise  man  remarked  that  the  city,  like  each 
of  us,  has  a  character  and  spirit. 

It  is  about  this  character  in  cities  that  I  want  to  talk 
with  you  in  this  last  chapter  of  our  book. 

Perhaps  you  think  it  rather  far-fetched  to  talk  about 
a  city  as  if  it  were  a  person,  and  to  speak  of  its  character, 
but  suppose  we  think  of  some  famous  cities. 

The  city  of  Washington  is  the  center  from  which  our 
country  is  governed  and  controlled,  and  where  its  law- 
makers meet  to  deliberate.  The  city  itself  has  a  care- 
fully planned,  deliberate  character.  It  did  not  "just 
grow"  like  Topsy  and  as  most  cities  do.  It  was  chosen 
to  be  the  capital  because  it  was  in  about  the  center  of 
the  original  thirteen  colonies.  Plans  for  it  were  drawn 
by  a  Frenchman,  Major  PEnfant,  who  had  served  with 
our  troops  during  the  Eevolution,  and  Washington  him- 
self took  a  special  interest  in  the  building  of  the  city 
which  was  his  namesake.  I  think  something  of  George 
Washington's  dignity  and  grandeur  show  very  clearly 
in  the  wide  noble  vistas  of  the  city  of  Washington. 

The  city  of  Boston,  on  the  other  hand,  has  no  plan  at 
all.  The  narrow  winding  streets  of  its  older  portions 
follow  the  cowpaths  of  colonial  days.  Boston  fought  its 
way  against  difficulties  with  real  New  England  courage. 
It  levelled  hills,  filled  in  marshes,  built  foundations  and 
turned  a  little,  irregular,  ocean-swept  town  into  a  great 
and  beautiful  city,  with  fine  theaters,  art-galleries, 
churches  and  libraries.  It  has  a  true,  New  England  char- 
acter, independent,  determined  and  original. 

As  for  New  York,  it  is  like  some  people  who  are  so 
many-sided  that  they  seem  to  be  many  people  in  one. 


356  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

Look  at  one  side  of  her,  and  you  think  New  York  cares 
for  nothing  but  business.  Visit  her  theater  district  and 
she  seems  devoted  to  pleasure.  Go  to  her  great  art  gal- 
leries, her  magnificent  library  and  her  beautiful  operas 
and  concerts,  and  you  see  that  she  loves  beauty. 

Yes  indeed,  cities  have  characters  and  those  characters 
are  made  by  the  citizens  of  each  city,  just  as  the  character 
of  a  room  is  made  by  the  people  who  live  in  it.  If  you 
go  into  an  ugly,  disorderly  room,  you  know  that  its  owner 
is  not  fond  of  beauty  and  neatness.  Just  so  with  a  city. 
If  the  streets  are  littered,  if  it  is  blackened  with  soft  coal 
smoke,  if  its  houses  are  crowded  tenements,  dingy  and 
dirty,  if  its  water  is  impure,  if  it  has  no  parks  or  open 
places,  you  can  be  pretty  sure  that  its  citizens  are  lazy, 
dirty,  ignorant  people. 

And  the  saddest  part  of  it  is  that  such  a  dirty,  unpleas- 
ant city  keeps  people  sickly,  dirty  and  ignorant. 

Now,  if  we  live  in  such  a  city,  what  can  we  do  about  it ! 
Perhaps  you  think  that  children  cannot  do  very  much. 
It  is  true  that  they  cannot  do  everything,  but  they  can  do 
a  great  deal.  They  can  help  to  keep  their  own  houses 
and  their  schools  so  clean  and  attractive  that  their  exam- 
ple will  spur  others  to  follow  it.  You  know  that  Emerson 
says  "The  only  way  to  have  a  friend  is  to  be  one."  So 
the  only  way  to  have  good  neighbors  is  to  be  a 
good  neighbor. 

If  I  lived  in  such  a  town  as  I  have  described,  I  should 
try  to  see  that  my  own  sidewalk  was  perfectly  clean.  I 
should  have  a  nice  clean  garbage  can  with  a  tight  cover. 
My  front  windows  should  all  be  shining  and  bright,  with 
clean  white  curtains  of  cheap  material  that  could  be 


BUILDING  A  CITY'S  CHARACTER  357 

washed  of te.n.  Then,  outside  the  windows,  I  would  have 
window-boxes  of  gay  flowers  and  green  vines.  And  I 
am  willing  to  wager  that  inside  a  few  weeks  some  of  my 
neighbors  would  be  polishing  their  windows  and  growing 
flowers,  too.  And  after  awhile,  our  block  would  be  so 
bright  and  flowery  that  someone  on  the  next  block  would 
wish  he  lived  there,  and  would  start  to  improve  his  house. 
And  so  the  whole  street  would  clean  up  and  spruce  up 
and  the  wave  of  cleanliness  and  beauty  would  spread 
over  the  city.  Shakespere  says, 

' '  How  far  that  little  candle  throws  his  beams ! 
So  shines  a  good  deed  in  a  naughty  world. " 
Which  means  that  no  one  need  ever  sit  down  in  wrong 
surroundings  and  pity  himself.     If  he  does  his  own  part, 
the  light  from  his  little  candle  will  show  others  the  right 
way  and,  little  by  little,  things  will  improve. 

I  suppose  no  city  ever  had  a  more  marked  character  or 
a  greater  influence  than  the  city  of  Athens,  which  was  a 
center  of  beauty  and  culture  for  the  whole  ancient  world. 
And  the  reason  was  that  it  was  a  city  of  good  neighbors. 
It  is  said  that  every  Athenian,  when  he  came  of  age  to 
vote,  took  a  solemn  oath  not  only  never  to  injure  his  city 
in  any  way,  but  to  serve  and  work  for  it  so  that  he  might 
leave  it  a  better,  finer  city  than  he  found  it.  And  the 
Athenians  lived  up  to  this  promise  so  well  that  even  today, 
after  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  years,  we  admire  the 
wonderful  city  of  Athens. 

One  of  the  best  citizens  that  America  ever  had  was  a 
poor  boy  who  was  brought  up  in  a  backwoods  community 
and  lived  in  a  log  cabin,  but  he  loved  his  country  so  well 
and  worked  for  her  so  unselfishly  that  he  became  Presi- 


358  A  CITY  OF  GOOD  NEIGHBORS 

dent,  and  is  one  of  our  greatest  national  heroes.  That 
boy  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  I  think  every  school  boy 
and  girl  in  America  should  take  to  heart  his  words: — 
"I  believe  that  a  man  should  be  proud  of  the  city  in 
which  he  lives  and  so  live  that  his  city  will  be  proud  that 
he  lives  in  it." 

BUILDING  A  CITY'S  CHARACTER 

Let  us  talk  about  our  city  as  if  it  were  a  person. 

What  shall  we  call  its  heart?     Is  it  a  strong  enough  one? 

What  shall  we  call  its  arteries  and  veins  ?     Are  they  equal  to  its  needs  ? 

What  shall  we  call  its  lungs?     Are  they  large  enough? 

What  shall  we  call  its  hands?     Are  they  large  and  strong  enough? 

What  shall  we  call  its  mouth?     Does  it  take  care  of  the  city's  needs? 

What  shall  we  call  its  nerves?     Do  they  do  its  work  well  enough? 

What  shall  we  call  its  mind?  Is  it  an  intelligent  and  honest  mind, 
directing  the  rest  of  the  city-body  well? 

What  is  the  character  and  spirit  of  your  city  ?  Perhaps  you  have  never 
thought  of  this.  Try  to  find  out  what  people  think  of  it  by  asking  questions 
of  some  wise  and  intelligent  citizens.  Compare  your  city  with  what  your 
book  says  of  Washington,  Boston  and  New  York. 

What  does  a  city's  character  tell  about  its  citizens?  Do  you  like  what 
your  city's  character  tells  about  its  citizens?  Perhaps  it  would  be  well 
to  ask  the  same  wise  and  intelligent  citizens  to  discuss  this  question  for 
you,  too. 

How  can  a  single  person  help  to  change  the  character  of  his  town? 

What  lessons  can  we  learn  from  ancient  Athens  about  making  a  fine 
character  for  our  own  cities? 

Learn,  and  try  to  live  up  to,  Lincoln's  words  about  a  citizen's  relation 
to  his  city. 


EXERCISES 

By  C.  WARD  CAMPTON,  M.D.,  formerly  Director  of 
Physical  Education,  Health  Instruction  and 
Athletics  for  New  York  City  Public  Schools. 

EXEKCISE  ONE— CHEST  STRETCHING 

Position:    Standing. 

Count  1:     Clasp  the  hands  behind  head.     Pull  the  head 

forward,   lifting  the   chest   and   pulling  the 

abdomen  in. 


Count  2. 


Count  3 


Count  4: 

Number 
of  Times. 
Rate: 


Push  the  head  back  as  far  as  you  can  and  look 
at  the  ceiling,  taking  a  full  breath  and  stretch- 
ing the  whole  body  comfortably.  (Do  not 
bend  at  the  waist). 

Holding  the  breath,  with  the  chest  full,  and 
keeping  the  head  back,  bend  the  body  (without 
twisting)  to  the  right  side. 
Similarly,  bend  the  body  to  the  left.     Con- 
tinue for  sixteen  counts. 

Four  to  six. 

Five  to  six  seconds  for  the  whole  exercise. 

359 


360  EXERCISES 

EXERCISE  TWO— PUMPING  OB  ABDOMINAL 
SEE-SAW 

Position:    Lying  on  the  back. 

Count  1:    Raise  the  chest  as  high  as  possible,  pulling 

up  the  abdominal  contents,  and  making  the 

waist  as  small  as  possible. 


Count  2:    Hold  this  position,  forcibly. 

Count  3:  Hold  this  position,  chest  still  as  high  as  you 
can  hold  it. 

Count  4:  Push  down  the  chest  and  lift  up  the  abdomen. 
The  purpose  of  this  exercise  is  to  increase  the 
capacity  of  the  chest  and  to  develop  expan- 
sion. The  circumference  of  the  chest  should 
be  at  least  two  to  four  inches  greater  than  the 
waist,  and  there  should  also  be  two  to  four 
inches  chest  expansion,  that  is,  the  difference 
between  the  greatest  and  smallest  chest 
measurement.  This  exercise  should  be  done 
without  breathing,  from  five  to  ten  times,  and 
then  a  rest  should  be  taken  for  an  equal  num- 
ber of  deep  respirations.  A  good  way  to 
learn  this  exercise  is  to  place  a  small  object 
like  a  watch  or  a  pocketbook  on  the  abdomen, 


EXERCISES 


361 


Number 
of  Times 


Rate: 


and  pull  it  in  on  the  first  three  counts,  until 
it  seems  to  rest  on  the  front  of  the  spinal  col- 
umn, and  then  push  it  up,  but  not  so  vigor- 
ously, on  the  fourth  count. 

Five,  with  an  interval  of  fifteen  seconds  for 
relaxation  and  breathing,  repeated  five  to 
ten  times. 

Four  to  five  seconds  for  the  exercise.  Twenty 
to  twenty-five  seconds  for  five  times. 


EXEECISE  THREE— THE  STEM- WINDER 

Position:     Standing  with  the  feet  apart  eighteen  inches. 

Hands  On  hips. 
Count  1:     Bending  the  trunk  forward,  with  the  abdomen 

well  pulled  in. 
Count  2:     Circle  to  the  right,  keep- 

^^  ^*  ^^  ^"*  ^*  _ 

ing  the  abdomen  in,  until 
the  body  is  bent  over  as 
far  as  possible. 

Count  3:  Continue  the  circle, 
bending  the  body  back- 
ward as  far  as  possible, 
looking  at  the  ceiling. 

Count  4:  Continue  the  circle,  bending  as  far  as  possible 
to  the  left  and  continuing  again  to  the  start- 
ing position,  trunk  forward. 
This  exercise  consists  of  making  as  big  a  cir- 
cle as  possible  with  the  head  and  keeping  it 
as  near  the  ground  as  possible,  without  bend- 
ing the  knees.  Each  time  the  head  comes  to 
the  front,  the  abdomen  is  pulled  in  vigorously. 


EXERCISES 

Number 

of  Times:    Ten  to  one  hundred. 

Rate:  Two  to  three  seconds  for  the  whole  exercise. 

EXERCISE  FOUR— THE  BICYCLE 

Position:  Lying  on  the  back,  hands  at  the  side,  knees 
pulled  up  close  to  the  chest. 

Count  1:  Extend  the  right  foot  and  pull  the  left  foot 
close  to  the  thigh,  beginning  a  small  circle 
just  as  one  would  on  a  bicycle. 


Count  2:  Extend  the  left  foot,  continuing  the  bicycle 
movement,  This  makes  the  abdominal  mus- 
cles strong,  for  it  requires  that  the  thigh  shall 
be  brought  close  to  the  body  every  time  the 
feet  move  around  in  a  circle.  To  get  its  best 
value,  the  knee  should  strike  the  chest  at  each 
revolution. 


Number 
of  Times 
Rate: 


EXERCISES 


Twenty  to  one  hundred. 

One  to  the  second. 

The  beginner  should  rest  every  ten  counts 

while  five  deep  breaths  are  taken. 


EXERCISE  FIVE— CHURNING  OB  ABDOMINAL 

CIRCLES 

Position:     Sitting,  hands  on  knees;  knees  separated. 
Count  1:    Bend  the  abdomen  inward,  letting  the  head 

and  shoulders  sink  down,  and  bend  the  back, 

pulling  in  the  abdomen. 


Count  2:  Bend  the  body  toward  the  left,  like  a  bow, 
keeping  the  head  in  exactly  the  same  position, 
pulling  in  the  abdomen  on  the  right  side  and 
letting  the  right  shoulder  sink  toward  the 
right  hip. 


364 


EXERCISES 


Count  3:  Continue  circling  the  abdomen  from  the  left, 
forward,  sitting  up  very  high  and  straight. 

Count  4:  Continue  the  circle,  bend  the  abdomen  toward 
the  right,  letting  the  left  shoulder  sink  down 
towards  the  left  hip,  bending  in  the  body  on 
the  left  side.  The  circling  is  continued  from 
the  fourth  position  to  the  first.  Thus  the 
abdomen  makes  a  circular  movement  in  the 
horizontal  plane.  The  head  and  neck  remain 
in  one  place  and  do  not  sway  from  side  to  side ; 
the  hips  rock  alternately  up  and  down  but 
remain  exactly  in  their  place. 

Number 

of  Times:  At  the  beginning,  twenty  times  right,  twenty 
times  left,  increasing  to  fifty  or  one  hundred. 

Rate:  One  circle  to  each  second.     No  faster. 

These  exercises  are  to  be  taken  night  and 
morning,  consuming  from  seven  to  ten  min- 
utes. They  are  ideal  for  the  sedentary 
worker  who  gets  no  exercise  of  the  muscles  of 
the  trunk  and  who  will  develop  in  a  few  years 
chronic  conditions  of  the  stomach  and  intes- 
tines. These  in  turn  will  affect  the  heart, 
producing  hardening  of  the  arteries  and,  in 
due  course  of  time,  causing  the  characteristic 
invalidism  and  disability  of  sedentary  work- 
ers, who  take  no  exercise  or  who  take  exercises 
that  are  not  good  for  them. 
The  five  exercises  given  are  the  best  that  can 
be  recommended  generally  for  most  people. 


EXERCISES  365 

They  are  the  result  of  a  great  deal  of  exper- 
ience and  scientific  research.  Of  course,  as 
one  grows  older,  it  is  more  and  more  neces- 
sary to  have  exercises  which  are  especially 
adapted  to  the  individual  needs  and  peculiari- 
ties which  may  develop.  The  best  and  surest 
way  is  to  have  the  doctor  prescribe  appropri- 
ate exercises,  after  he  has  given  you  his 
regular,  annual  examination. 


366  TESTS  FOR  THE  EYES 

30ft. 

O  F  L  C 


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A  P    E    O    R 


15ft. 


N  F  R  T  V  Z  B 

12  ft. 

S  U  Y  A  C  E  G 

10  fe. 

V  Z   Y  A   C  E   G 


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